Guardian of the Red Thread
by Cawthorne
Summary: Kushina wakes up in Konoha and finds out that she is dead. However, an Uzumaki doesn't just die so easily, and when Kushina is offered a chance to come back to the world of the living... Let's just say it's hard for her to resist since she has someone she really wants to punch in the face. (WIP; Also, Kushina has wings 'cause why not. Might change genre later - no pairings so far)
1. Awakening

A longer summary: Kushina wakes up in Konoha and finds out that she is dead. However, an Uzumaki doesn't die so easily and when she is presented with a new chance at life... She wakes up in the middle of nowhere as a new person and has to find her way back to Konoha - her quest is to punch Jiraiya in the face as well as protect the Hidden Leaf from the masked Madara. And she might just make some friends along the way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the original characters. If I did, there would be more Minato and Kushina.

A/N: This is the first time I've written a fanfiction in _my entire life_. So it would be nice with some criticism as long as it isn't too flame-y :)  
Also, I'll try to update at least once a week (but no promises) and make the chapters at least 4k words long.

* * *

"Minato.." Kushina coughed with a very confused and horrified expression, her lungs feeling like they hadn't drawn air, like, _forever_. "What the hell did you do, 'ttebane?!"

Kushina found herself in the outskirts of Konohagakure (probably on a training ground), very much alive. As far as she remembered, she should have been dead. And for a moment, she was almost sure she was. But then again, she obviously _wasn't_. She had no idea what had happened and shook her head in denial.

"If I'm alive... What about Minato? Naruto?" she didn't think about talking out loud, until she heard footsteps in the distance. Deciding it would be better not to get spotted right away, she hid in the trees. Below her walked a very familiar white-haired, one-eyed shinobi with a mask, his eyes downwards and his expression blank. Not the "hiding your emotions" sort of blank, but the "unfathomable sorrow" kind. When someone else approached him, he changed his expression immediately, though.

"What do you want, Gai? Can we do this another time?" the copy-nin asked, trying to wear his usual mask of boredom and I-don't-care-ness.

"My youthful eternal rival, Kakashi! We still have unfinished business! Our standing is very youthfully equal at 21/22!" Gai exclaimed with 'youthful passion' burning in his eyes, and his hand clenched in front of him in a come-get-me kind of fashion. Kakashi almost sighed at his rival's inability to see when numbers were equal and decided to play his 'What was that?' card.

"Hm? Did you say something?" he asked, again maintaining his bored expression. Someone should award him a medal - he was at least as good as the Uchiha at that expression. He even pulled out his book; a book that Kushina _certainly_ didn't remember seeing him running around with. The orange cover seemed familiar, though...

"Gah! Very hip, Kakashi! As expected from my eternal rival!" Gai said in a very loud and over-the-top manner. But then again, this was Gai, basically the _definition_ of over-the-top. When Kakashi didn't say anymore, Gai decided it was better to approach him another time. He had been worried about his eternal rival recently, especially since his sensei died, but he could see in Kakashi's eyes that _now was not the time._ He would be sure to approach Kakashi at some other time, though. He had a youthful appearance to keep up! Wouldn't want his rival to think he had grown old.

"Very well! Since you are not up for my youthful challenge, I shall run around Konoha on my hands, 200 times!" Gai exclaimed, as youthful as ever. Kakashi replied by raising his eyebrow at the Green-wearing Jōnin. _Yep.. That's Gai for you._ he thought, almost amused if it hadn't been because Gai was always acting like that. When Gai left with a "Yosh!" and got to work, Kakashi walked up to the memorial stone. Kushina watched with an observant eye. She was definitely going to figure out what was going on, and why she had suddenly woken up to a youthful display by none other than Meito Gai and his eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi. She did note that there was something.. _Off_ about Kakashi. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but it was his single visible eye that had made her suspicious. Like his eyes had seen more than the eyes of the Kakashi in her memories. Like he had been through more.

_Bah, I'm sure I'm just overthinking it, dattebane._ she thought, and shrugged it off.

"Minato-sensei... Kushina-san... Obito... Rin..." Kushina stiffened at the mention of her own name. In fact, she almost fell down the branch, but quickly used chakra to avoid making noise and revealing her presence. Kakashi then went on to mumble about how he missed them and wished they could be there, and then stood there, silent, for a very long time, simply looking at the large onyx stone. It became obvious to Kushina then - the depth of those eyes.. They were the cause of it. Her and Minato. She was almost certain, and it made her want to jump down and hug her against-his-will adopted son.

Just before she could do so, she felt the presence of a hand on her shoulder, and stiffened. "Don't" the person behind her said. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Kaa-chan..?" she whispered to the red-haired female behind her. In return, the female smiled sadly, and shook her head. "Don't you even remember your old fellow Jinchūriki?" the other red-head said, almost mockingly. Kushina stared a bit at the other, and the way she wore her hair in two buns, before something clicked in her head.

"_Mito?!_" she exclaimed, her violet eyes wide and jaw dropped. The older kunoichi chuckled heartily at that, before nodding, a gentle smile present on her face. "But.. You look so... Young!" was all that Kushina could manage to say. The last memory she had of the Shodai's wife was when she was an old lady, right after the Kyūbi had been passed over to her. This Mito, however, almost looked the same age as Kushina.

"Yes.. Age doesn't really matter when one is dead." Mito replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. Kushina blinked twice at that. _Dead?! Does that mean I'm dead too?.. Actually, that would make a lot of sense, 'ttebane._ Kushina thought to herself. Mito clearly picked up on the confused expression of the younger Uzumaki and confirmed her suspicions.

"Yes, you are dead too... But only just." Earning another confused glance from Kushina, she continued. "Our clan is a bit.. Special. When we die, we don't simply go like any other person.. This is because of the dealings of our ancestors, though I must admit I don't know too much about it myself. Fūinjutsu is a wonderful and mystical art, wouldn't you agree?" Kushina nodded at that, almost forming a grin. She definitely agreed - Fūinjutsu was indeed amazing.

"Then what, dattebane?" Kushina said after some hesitation. She had no idea what this meant to her, but hopefully it wasn't bad.

"This means you have to make a choice. You have a second chance... If you want to take the consequences." There was an almost dangerous edge to Mito's words like they were carefully picked and implied much more than they were saying. Kushina didn't notice this right away, though. _Second chance?_ was all she could think. "Naruto.." she whispered, only partially aware that she was saying it out loud. "You want to see him?" Kushina's eyes bolted up at Mito's. She hadn't realized Mito had heard her. "Just... Be careful what you wish for." Kushina nodded carefully, quickly thinking it over, however the answer was still pretty obvious to her. _Of course I'm going to see my son, dattebane!_

Mito snapped her fingers.

Suddenly they were at the orphanage. They were sitting in shadows on the branch of a large oak tree in the outskirts of some playground. Kushina's eyes darted between the children, running around there playing, and the caretakers. Something caught her eye though, and she almost wished she hadn't seen it. In an isolated corner, away from everyone else, sat a small blond child on a swing, simply observing the other children. He had three whisker-marks on each side of his face and a white t-shirt with the Uzushiogakure symbol on it. "N.. Naruto." Kushina said, slightly shocked. Her child - _her own son_ - was sitting alone on a swing with a look in his eyes that no person his age should have.

She was just about to run over there, when she felt the hand on her shoulder, again. "You can't. You're dead..." Mito reminded her, and the slight hope Kushina had gotten, turned into anger. "That's my son over there! MY CHILD! I don't care if I'm dead, let me gooo!" she yelled stubbornly and flailed with her arms - one could almost describe her behavior as childishly, if it wasn't because of the seriousness of the situation.

"Remember what I said?" the older red-head asked the younger one. Kushina had to think back for a moment or two before remembering. It really wasn't that long ago Mito said it, but Kushina wasn't famous for either memory nor patience. "You mentioned a second chance.." Kushina said, a bit suspicious. She didn't know what this 'second chance' would contain, but hopefully it wasn't anything bad. Mito smiled and nodded, glad she didn't have to repeat herself. Mito disliked repeating herself.

"There are some.. Conditions though. I want you to listen to all of it before making your decision; as everyone else of Uzumaki blood have done before you." Kushina's eyes widened a bit at the last statement, before nodding in agreement. "Alright, I'll hear ya out."

Mito hesitated a bit before continuing. "This pact of ours.. It's like a deal with the Shinigami. Specifically, it's a soul for a soul. The balance of life must be kept, and someone else has to die in your place." That alone made Kushina reconsider. She couldn't just take someone else's life like that, in return for her own. It seemed fundamentally _wrong_. Mito, however, was not done yet, and coughed once to regain Kushina's attention (Kushina also had a very shot attention-span).

"However, that is not all. You can only come back as another person. Currently, your body is long gone, and only your spirit remains." After a short hesitation, Mito continued. "That means... If you choose to come back, you will not be recognizable by anyone you knew, and you will not be the same person. Additionally, you will be unable to tell anyone of who you were... It's not that you are not allowed to talk about it, but you will be physically unable to." Kushina winced at this. Now it seemed like an even worse idea.

"The last condition.. Though it may not initially seem as intimidating as the other two, it will become very substantial in the future." Mito looked at Kushina's grimace with displeasure. "Like I said, it is a deal with the Shinigami. When you die again, your soul will end up in the demon's stomach with whoever sacrificed their life for yours." Kushina looked like she was just about to refuse, but Mito silenced her, wanting Kushina to think this decision through instead of answering prematurely.

"I'll give you some time to think... Feel free to wander, but remember that you are dead. You cannot physically interact with anything or anyone, just like no one can hear you." Mito explained, and Kushina realized that no one had noticed her when she had yelled earlier. "Thank you, Mito-san" Kushina said and bowed her head slightly to the older Uzumaki. Mito smiled warmly at her and replied "When you are ready to make your decision, I will be there" before vanishing like rose petals in the wind. Now, Kushina was left with only herself and the people to whom she was invisible, to decide what to do with her death.

* * *

Kushina had followed her son around for a while now. At first, his resemblance to Minato had been the only thing she really noticed (though the realization that Minato was gone thankfully hadn't reached her yet, or she would have been devastated).

However, when the shock of that first realization had passed, she had begun to notice her own features in the boy, as well. She had been very surprised when the little blond had exclaimed "Dattebayo!" and she wondered where he had gotten her verbal tick. Actually, she was a bit dismayed at the fact that he had inherited that, because she had hoped her children wouldn't have it, as it was in fact a bit annoying.

_But.. Really, though. Where did he learn that?! It's not like I was around to teach him how to talk, dattebane..._

Something that outright outraged the red-head was the treatment he received from the so-called 'caretakers'. Only, they didn't take care of Naruto at all. In fact, they seemed to despise him like a demon. Kushina felt a pang of pain in her chest as she remembered her own difficulties as a child. _Kyūbi no Jinchūriki.. If only there had been another solution..._ Kushina thought, sadly.

They had even given Naruto his own place to sleep, his own corner of the playground, and told all the other children to stay away from him, like there was some unsaid rule against it. She did notice, though, that no one mentioned the Kyūbi. Not even once, neither in his presence or in the absence of it. _Must be the work of Hiruzen... _she thanked him silently. Maybe he would have a chance with the new generation, even though he hadn't had any luck yet, with the adults telling the children to stay away.

After staying with Naruto for a while, trying several times to punch someone in the head and being frustrated when her fist simply flew _through_ their heads, she continued to other parts of the city. She had other people that she wanted to check up on, as well, and she found it depressing seeing how her son led his daily life. She had seen more than enough to tell what his entire life had probably been like thus far, and she didn't have someone to take out her negative emotions on, so it would probably be best if she left before she went insane.

* * *

On her walk through the city, she ran across the Ichiraku ramen place. She was instantly drawn to the smell of that _delicious_ ramen. _Damnit, why can I smell the food when I can't taste it? Being dead is SO unfair, dattebane!_ Kushina glared at the ramen being prepared by Teuchi with his little daughter watching him intently.

She would do anything, even sacrifice her soul to a demon, to get to eat ramen right about now. Or - almost anything. She wasn't so sure about sacrificing someone else's life for it... Unless they were Iwa-nin. Or the people that glared at Naruto. They would deserve it. Which actually made a very valid point in the whole second-chance-guilt-complex she was having.

She hurried along to get away from that tempting smell of godly ramen, and walked towards the nearest public bath. Now that she had the chance, she might as well check up on everyone she knew. Though to be completely honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted to see the person she was looking for or not. When she thought about her lonely son, she actually just wanted to send said person to hell. Or the stomach of the Shinigami. _But Minato wouldn't be happy about that. Except for the fact that they might be able to see each other in the stomach of the Shinigami.. But frankly, the guy is kinda important with his spies and all. Otherwise I would have done something regrettable to him ages ago, dattebane_. Kushina thought with a pout on her face.

She looked at the fence in front of the bathes with crossed arms, tapping the ground with her right foot. _Jiraiya, you perv._ she glared. _You should be happy I can't punch you in the face right now, or you would have a bleeding nose for an entirely different cause than staring at women._ she shook her fist offensively at the perverted Sannin.

When she felt there was no more to see (And to be honest, there wasn't a lot. It was just an old guy sitting with his head against a fence, giggling in a creepy way), she headed towards the Hokage tower. She would have to check up on Sandaime-jiji as well, or whoever was currently Hokage.

_It would be logical if they have chosen a new Hokage.. _she thought with a sigh. She didn't really like the idea of a Godaime, since she couldn't see anyone else than Minato sitting behind that desk. Anyone else than him and Hiruzen would be impostors to her, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

After wall climbing her way to the window of the Hokage office, she was almost relieved to see Hiruzen sitting behind the desk. _Almost_. At least that was until she saw the shadows under her eyes. There was still the kind of determined look in his eyes - the eyes that held the Hi no Ishi (Will of Fire) - but they looked ten times older and weary than last she had seen the old man. She actually felt sorry for him. _He was prepared to step down, and now he's forced to take the hat again..._

It also left her wondering why no one else had been offered the hat. Lack of strong enough shinobi to be Hokage candidates? It was true they must have lost many good men during the attack of the Kyūbi and.. That Man. Besides, there was always the danger of Danzō. This loyalty she felt to her village just made her want to come back even more. _I want to help, dattebane! I want to help my son, Hiruzen-jiji, eat ramen, and punch Jiraiya straight in the face!_ she almost yelled at the poor Sandaime - well, it's not like he would have heard her anyways...

**"I agree our situation is regrettable."** she heard a loud voice say, and immediately looked frantically around her to find the source of that deep and sinister voice. She couldn't see anyone else than herself, Sandaime, and some poor clueless Genin holding a struggling 'Tora the demon-cat' in the room.

**"Looking for me? You won't find me, brat."** the voice replied to Kushina's unspoken question. Suddenly, Kushina realized who the voice belonged to, and visibly stiffened. The ominous voice cackled amusedly and kind of evilly. "Kyūbi" Kushina hissed, and narrowed her eyes.

**"Heheh, I see you're glad to see me. Let me tell you, the feeling is not one-sided." **the demon fox said with a bored voice. "How?! How are you here? I thought Minato sealed you!" Kushina screamed, trying to rip out her long red hair in frustration, but seeing as she was dead, she failed miserably. The Kyūbi sighed at the frantic red-head.

**"He ****_did_**** seal a part of me. But apparently I was never fully extracted from you, leaving me here as a mere shell of my greatness. Also the reason you didn't drop dead right away, if you ever wondered about that."** he hissed, causing Kushina to flinch slightly. If she hadn't gotten used to his killing intent over the years, she might have run around screaming right about now.

**"So what will you do, weakling? ****_Do_**** amuse me, brat, I'm bored."** Kushina sighed at this. She had almost made up her mind about the matter, but then the Kyūbi had come along and made her uncertain. Now she was forced to reevaluate her decision because she didn't want to release _another_ Kyūbi on the world, no matter how 'weak' this one proclaimed itself to be. The Kyūbi snorted.

**"Don't tell me you're going to decline because of me. That's just pathetic." **he insulted her. "Of course I'm not going to bring you back, 'ttebane!" Kushina growled at the Kyūbi.

**"Oh, but you are. Even that shitty seal of Shukaku's could hold be back right now. I'm not a threat, so **_**amuse**_** me, kit."** the Kyūbi growled back, though that did nothing to assure the red-head.

**"Hm. Since I can't get back without you, I suppose I'll cooperate with you, brat. Think about those dear ****_friends_**** of yours. They wouldn't want to stay miserable, would they?"** Kushina winced again at this, feeling kind of guilty after seeing the state of all those she held dear. Well, Jiraiya seemed to be doing just fine, but she seriously wanted to go punch him in the face.

"Cooperate, hm?" Kushina asked, actually seriously considering. She had tried to work her way through that thick skull of the fox for years, and maybe, just _maybe,_ she had gotten through to him.

**"I could have had worse hosts... Prove your worth to me and I will assist you. Until then, you're still a brat, and I'll be taking a long nap."** the Kyūbi said, and fell silent. Kushina nodded to herself. She had mostly made up her mind now, and since the Kyūbi claimed he wasn't really a threat in his reduced state... Now there was just one big problem. She needed a _human sacrifice. _It made her feel ill, what she was going to do. But perhaps she could find someone who was going to die anyways, or who was better off being dead? She might even help someone!

Nodding, she jumped out of the window of Hokage tower, and went for the hospital.

* * *

At the hospital, she ran through the halls and into all the rooms, trying to find a subject for the sacrifice. At the 12th room of normal and almost-healthy patients, she was suddenly interrupted, though.

**"Why don't you just kill that Danzō brat and get it over with? You'll be doing the world a favor."** the Kyūbi broke in, and for once, Kushina actually agreed. It was not that she disliked Danzō... But she really disliked Danzō. His entire set of ideals were just fundamentally _wrong_. "You know, Kyūbi, for once I actually agree with you." she said with an evil foxy grin, and darted off to find the subject of their hatred.

After running around for a while, Kushina realized that she didn't actually know where Danzō's hideout was. Minato had probably known, but Danzō had probably made him keep the information confidential. Giving up, Kushina ended up just yelling for Mito, hoping that she didn't actually need the person to be right next to her.

"MIIITOOO! GET OVER HERE, DATTEBANE!" she yelled at the air, and after 5 minutes when she held a little pause from screaming her lungs out, a storm of lily petals appeared before her, shaping themselves into the late Shodai's wife. "Mito! There you are!" Kushina exclaimed, happily. Mito just sighed at the overly enthusiastic red-head.

"I suppose this means you have made up your answer?" Mito asked, raising an eyebrow. Kushina nodded. "Can we sacrifice Danzō? I hope the Shinigami doesn't have anything against polluted men." Kushina stated. Mito grimaced at the mention of sacrificing Danzō, as much as she disliked him herself.

"I suppose.. If that's what you want, we could make that work. Now, are you _absolutely certain_ you want to kill off Danzō?" she tilted her head at Kushina. Kushina just nodded happily. "Off with the head of the snake! And in the process, I'll even save a bunch of promising children, dattebane!" Kushina exclaimed.

Mito nodded, and flashed though some hand-signs at a near-invisible speed. "I'll bid you farewell then, Uzumaki Kushina. This will be the last time you will be heard by that name... I wish you good luck." Mito stated, and Kushina felt herself being pulled away by some invisible entity, to somewhere far away, losing consciousness in the process at the uncomfortable feeling of having a new body created and being stuck inside it.

At the same moment in some dark, eerie place, Danzō fell limply down from his chair with his tongue sticking out of his mouth in the classic and somewhat comical "dead" pose.

Mito looked at the sorry body of the old war-hawk. "It is an unweeded garden that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature possess it merrily... But Danzō, it looks like we have killed the root that would posses this garden, and new plants - yes, new leaves.. can grow anew. The shadow of the flames will protect this village."

* * *

A/N number 2: AAaaand that was the first chapter. Sorry to anyone who actually likes Danzō, but I really can't stand the guy. Other than this, there won't be any characters randomly dying. 'Keh? Also, reviews are VERY welcome. I want to know whether or not I'm actually doing this writing thing correctly. Also, I might warn you that there is going to be a 'wing' sort of kekkei genkai (because why not?) and Kushina is _maybe_ (probably) going to have it. Just because I like wings. And birds.


	2. Winged people

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto series or its characters. I do, however, have a few original characters of my own in this one.

A/N: So.. Here is the second chapter!..  
I hope I'm not the only one out there who thinks a wing kekkei genkai would be a good idea, otherwise I'm gonna get a looot of hate for this. But just in case I'm not... Enjoy! :3

* * *

When Kushina awoke again, she didn't recognize her surroundings. The flora, the trees.. She had never seen any of it before and had no idea where she had ended up. The flowers were a radiant purple, and the silver trees with red leaves made the forest look like it was on fire. The air was cold, compared to Fire country. Yep, this was definitely not Fire country. Blinking a few times, she realized that _this was not her eyes_. The realization struck her, and she remembered that this was not her old body. In fact, it was an entirely new one.

She looked around her, and found herself in a clearing of the red-leaved trees, with a pond of sorts to her right. She looked down at her unnaturally pale arms, and tried to get up on her legs, but the unfamiliar size and proportions of her entire body, in addition to muscles that had never been used before, made it difficult to stand up, and she ended up just crawling to the pond. She looked down at the still water, working like a mirror, in shock.

The person staring back at her was a complete stranger. She had black hair, slightly longer than shoulder-length, and radiant green eyes. She was a lot younger than Kushina had been - probably somewhere around 10, as she obviously hadn't reached puberty yet... Something that actually amused Kushina a bit. She was slim and probably underweight, was wearing primitive leather clothing bound around her like a tunic of sorts, and trousers made of the same material. It wasn't exactly the average civilian's clothing, but it wasn't shinobi gear either. It was made with preventing movement restriction in mind, but it didn't have any sort of protection, in the form of mesh or metal or anything tough, to prevent damage from attacks.

Something that completely flabbergasted her, was the weight of something foreign on her back. Glancing behind her, she found two large black-feathered wings attached to her back. She blinked twice at the uncommon sight. They weren't entirely like bird's wings, though - the feathers seemed sharp, like knives. She tried to move one of them slightly, but found it very difficult since the muscles in her wings (like everywhere else) hadn't been used yet and were underdeveloped.

After the shock of the discovery had passed, she found herself cursing at her weakness. How could she help _anyone_ in her current state? She needed to train and relearn everything she had ever known - and preferably quickly. _It's not like anyone else are going to walk up to one of the Sannin and punch him in the face..._ she thought with a mental pout.

A sound in the edge of the clearing startled the reborn Kushina, and she tensed visibly, looking at the strangers with slight panic. She was not prepared to handle any kind of attack in her current state. The two "intruders" turned out to be two men wearing the same kind of leather clothing as her, one of them in his thirties, and the other having a vague resemblance to the first - probably his son. They both had (relatively) longish brown hair, and one of them had his slightly-longer-than-average hair set up in a pony-tail. They both looked at her in confusion, probably wondering why there was a small girl there in the middle of nowhere.

"Uhm.." the younger one approached. "Who are you?"

Kushina was just about to reply "U.." when she felt like she was choking on her own words. A minor coughing fit later, and the two men being startled by the sudden outburst, she remembered the words of Mito. '_You will be unable to tell anyone who you were'... I need to come up with an alias._ she thought, and desperately tried to come up with something. When the two grew visibly impatient and where just about to say something, Kushina exclaimed "Kaiyasa!".

"Very well, ehh.. Kaiyasa-san." the older one said. "Now, I don't remember seeing you around before, but you should probably get back to the village. The elders didn't make a curfew for nothing. These woods can be dangerous at night." he continued with a worried tone. _Village? _Kushina thought. It also briefly crossed her mind that they didn't actually mention the fact that _she had two very large wings on her back_.

Just as she tried push herself up, she fell down on her knees again. She breathed heavily, even though she hadn't done very much since she woke up, but clearly she would have to take this slowly. She glanced up at the older one with a pleading look in her eyes, and he sighed, walking over to pick her up.

_I guess this is allowed since I'm technically 10._ Kushina smirked to herself, before climbing onto the back of the stranger with the brown hair. Her wings hung limply down since she couldn't muster the strength to keep them upwards. With the constant rhythm of footsteps on the soft forest ground, she was quickly lulled to sleep. It had been a long and strange day.

* * *

When Kushina (Or "Kaiyasa") opened her eyes again, she was surprised to feel a kind of primitive mattress underneath her, and a blanket on top of her. She vaguely remembered falling asleep, and wondered if she was now in the village the man had mentioned. Above her were the planks of a wooden roof, and the living light of flames, somewhere in the room, was dancing on the ceiling.

"She's awake!" Kushina heard someone whisper in the background. She tried to turn her head, but found herself limp and weak. It was really annoying, not being able to do anything. She tried saying something, but any attempt to do so only came out as a croak, reminding her of Minato and Jiraiya's toad summons. She moved her eyes to her right, barely glancing the shape of a person nearing her.

She cleared her throat before speaking up. "How are you feeling?" she asked in a gentle tone. Kushina guessed that this was probably her current caretaker, though her current location didn't seem like a hospital at all. Kushina finally managed to force understandable words out of her throat. "W-weak.." she croaked.

"Well, to be honest.." the woman (because the gentle voiced was definitely that of a female) replied. "It's impressive you have been able to survive at all. I looked through the village records, and even though you are definitely one of the Tsubasajin bloodline, you are not listed there, which is very... Curious to say the least. We didn't think there were anyone with our kekkei genkai outside the village." she explained to the, now, black-haired kunoichi.

_So that's what the wings are? A bloodline? How come we've never heard of this one in Konoha, dattebane?!_

Since Kushina didn't reply, the woman continued. "Now... Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself? We're very curious." she said in a somewhat intimidating voice. Clearly 'no' wasn't an answer. "I.." Kushina started, before hesitating. What was she going to say? She couldn't physically say anything about her previous life, and she couldn't explain how she had ended in the middle of the strange forest. _I guess I'll just use the 'easy' solution._

"I don't remember." Kushina replied, using everything she had learnt in her previous life to create a mask of innocence. The woman - with light grey hair and blue eyes, Kushina noted - was looking suspiciously at her, but decided to take the answer even if she didn't entirely trust it. The woman knew the unknown girl could very well be acting, but her expression just looked too _genuine_ for her to be lying.

"Alright. Now, rest. I will find out what the council will want to do with you." the woman told Kushina who inwardly winced. Anything involving a council was rarely good, as the council was almost always filled with old selfish people. At least, according to Kushina.

**"Heh, this is turning out rather interesting." **the Kyūbi noted. _I thought you were sleeping, 'ttebane?_ Kushina replied with her thoughts, knowing that it would be suspicious if she started talking to herself.

**"I decided to take a look at our whereabouts first. But since you brat have a lot of training to do, I'll be taking a nap. Wake me up when something exciting happens."** the Kyūbi murmured sleepily before going back to being dormant. Kushina inwardly sighed. The Kyūbi could be a bother sometimes, but at least he was currently cynical more so than evil.

Kushina tested the muscles in her body. She found them more respondent than they had been before, and she also checked the wings that were currently sprawled out underneath her, and gladly noted that she was able to fold them and move them, even if it took a bit of effort. It was like using a part of her brain she had never used before, in addition to all of her muscles being incredibly weak. It would probably be some time before she could run, or even walk properly. Doing what limited exercises she could in her bed, she started getting to work. _Hell, I'm not just gonna lie here and wait, dattebane!_

* * *

A week later, Kushina had gained enough strength to run around, even if she couldn't run very fast or very far. At least she was not limited by the house anymore, and had been allowed to go outside as long as she stayed within the property's perimeter. It was a rather small and remote village though, and the property was rather large. At first the 'council' had been suspicious of her; and it didn't help that Kushina was practically about to burst out laughing when she saw them.

They weren't like any other council she had seen before, and her prejudice about councils being filled with old grumpy people was very much opposite of this one. It did make Kushina very happy though, to actually see a _proper_ village council. This council was basically just the house-owners in the village; and there weren't a lot of them. The council was composed by 16 people, exclusive the village leader, and they were all young men with similar traits.

Kushina guessed that the one who had found her was also in there somewhere, but she honestly couldn't tell which one it was. The village leader was a very old man with a cane and a long grey beard. He could almost be compared to a fossil, and the 16 other members of the council acted like they were all sick of him. The old guy had bad hearing, constantly told bad jokes, and could be mistaken for borderline _insane_. It was a wonder the village was working as well as it was. Apparently he was the leader because of some weird old prophecy written ages ago by their ancestors.

At least it wasn't some strict leader she would have to convince to let her stay, and even though some of the council didn't like Kushina's presence, most of them thought it was alright if she stayed around - especially since she had their bloodline.

The woman, whose name she had later found out to be Naiyami, had been by to visit Kushina several times after (partially because Kushina stayed at Naiyami's house), and they were now almost a kind of friends. They had mostly talked about the village and Naiyami, since Kushina didn't have much to offer in terms of stories. She was very surprised to discover than most people in the village actually had the Tsubasajin kekkei genkai - they just used a clan-jutsu to hide it.

Apparently they had an entire taijutsu style and ninjutsu that depended on the wings and the razor-sharp feathers. Kushina was definitely going to try to learn it - if only she could find a Shisō to teach her. She was tempted to ask Naiyami if she could teach her, and since Kushina couldn't do a lot else, she was going to ask the next time Naiyami decided to visit. Until then, Kushina was stuck with trying to build up her chakra levels and strength, and she was progressing quickly. _I guess it's easier the second time..._ Kushina sighed, being the impatient person that she was.

She had wanted to test out her calligraphy and fūinjutsu, but the village didn't have any materials she could use. They didn't actually have paper (apparently they weren't that much in contact with other villages and couldn't make paper themselves - they used wooden and carved signs _everywhere_) and they didn't have ink either; so since drawing in the ground wasn't really precise enough, Kushina was stuck with doing other things. She went over some of the seals and sealing types in her head sometimes, though - just to make sure she didn't forget anything while she was staying.

Kushina looked up from her meditative position when she heard the door creak, and smiled as she heard the distinctive footsteps of her host. "Hi, Naiyami-san!" Kushina exclaimed with a smile. Naiyami, who had just entered the door, looked back with the same smile. "Good day, Kaiyasa-chan. How are you doing today?" she asked politely. Even though they were practically friends, Naiyami still saw Kushina as her tenant and charge, placed onto her by the council.

"I'm doing good.. It's getting a bit boring in here, though. Hey, hey, Naiyami-san, do you know how to fight?" Kushina replied, using the excited tone of the average 10-year-old that she was supposed to be. Naiyami looked slightly displeased at this - she didn't really like the prospect of teaching a kid how to fight, but since these were tough times...

"So you want to learn from our Guardian traditions?" Kushina nodded excitedly - here there weren't anything called a 'shinobi'. It was a foreign concept. Here, the fighters of the Tsubasajin clan were called 'Guardians'. They didn't really have any concept of kunai, chakra or ninjutsu either; that probably said something about how far away she was from the five Elemental Countries. Their weapon was a _sickle-like sword_, developed from the farming tool; like a short sword that was curved to be like a crescent moon called 'Gekkō'. Instead of using the term 'chakra', they just referred to it as 'spiritual energy' (though the shinobi would claim that to be false, since chakra is the mix of physical and spiritual energy). The only jutsu they knew, were the ones where they used chakra to make their feathers into weapons. They did, however, still call their techniques 'jutsu', even though the term 'ninjutsu' was foreign as well.

"Well.. I suppose I can teach you, even though a proper Guardian would be better. I agree that you should be able to defend yourself, though.." Naiyami sighed. Kushina almost jumped around in excitement. She had gotten quite fond of the 10-year-old act; it was just like being allowed to be a child again. Actually, it was _exactly_ like being allowed to be a child again.

"Alright. I'll start by telling you a bit about the Guardians. You should know about them, before trying to learn anything." Naiyami said, before sitting down in front of the small fireplace in the wooden house with a hole in the roof. She looked up at the grey clouds through the hole, before continuing.

"As you know, the Guardians are the protectors of our small society. However, they date back very far, since the time where monsters were wandering around the earth." - Kushina guessed she was talking about the Bijū and was comforted by the fact that they apparently weren't too far away from the Elemental Countries - they were just in a secluded place. "When our clan was founded by the first winged people, they quickly found out that the world can be very hostile, and very dangerous. The village needed able-bodied people to protect the women and the children, and those later became the first council. Even though everyone in the council are Guardians, it doesn't mean one has to be in the council to be a Guardian. Most of the boys and even some of the women are taught some of the art, as well."

Kushina nodded at her, and wondered if the old geezer and leader of the village was also a Guardian. He certainly didn't seem like it. Naiyami continued; "One day, a man from a faraway place came to the founders of the village, on the brink of death. The founders nursed him back to life, and in return, he taught them how to use their spiritual energy. The wings we carry turned out to be deadly weapons for those who learned how to harness this energy. Thus, the Guardians of old were powerful enough to keep our enemies away and secure prosperity for our kin. The art has been passed down, generation to generation, ever since, along with our Gekkō and fighting styles. As I said earlier, I only know some of it since I'm not a Guardian myself, and I can't use very much spiritual energy, but I can teach you how to use a Gekkō and fight effectively with our bloodline." Naiyami finished, looking at Kushina who was staring in awe at the older female.

Naiyami pulled out something from a leather wrap, and presented it to Kushina. "This, Kaiyasa-chan, is a Gekkō." Kushina stared at the two well-kept and polished crescent swords with large eyes. Their handles were bound in leather. It wasn't amazing craftsmanship, but it was kind of amazing considering how _primitive_ everything was in this village - including their tools.

"These are passed down through family, since we don't have a lot of materials like metal. But we won't be using this yet; these ones are reserved for the Guardians. No, we'll be using _these_ ones" Aiyame said, and pulled forth a set of wooden replicas. Kushina was a bit disappointed at having to use wooden replicas, but supposed it was for the better anyways. She didn't want to scratch the heirlooms, and the worst thing that could happen to her with the wooden ones, was that she could get bruises. It would probably be safer, not swinging an unknown weapon around (and potentially cutting someone else, or herself) without any training. Kushina had never been a weapons' expert.

"Alright, we'll start with the stances - let's go outside so that we won't wreck anything!" Naiyami exclaimed with a smirk. Kushina followed, grinning (almost) evilly. _Time to learn how to fight, dattebane!_

* * *

Kushina had spent another week on learning the kata of the Tsubasajin kenjutsu style, and was actually getting quite alright at it. She still couldn't win against Naiyami, but it wouldn't be long, now. Naiyami had been surprised at how quickly Kushina was getting the hang of it, and (even though she wouldn't admit it) was actually a bit envious. The two had trained every afternoon, until both ended up lying on the ground, panting heavily.

Kushina had used the mornings to try and get back to her former strength. It wasn't easy with a 10-year-old body, but she was getting quite strong already. Admittedly, not as strong as she wanted to be, but there was a limit on how quickly one could gain muscle. She expected to be on the level of an average genin in no more than two weeks, though. The overgrown fur-ball hadn't said anything since the time she had gotten here, but Kushina knew he was watching from the background.

Today, Naiyami felt that there wasn't more she could teach Kushina regarding the Gekkō, but as she had said; "We're still going to spar every evening, to get you into shape and improve your speed". Instead, they were going to work on taijutsu. Because of the wings, the taijutsu style of the Tsubasajin clan was quite unique, and relied on wings to block attacks and somewhat improve mobility. Kushina reminded herself that this was the first time she was going to see someone else's wings, and was actually quite excited. No one had told her the jutsu they used to hide their wings, yet - probably because they assumed she couldn't use chakra.

The two went outside the wooden door, and out into the 'garden'. It wasn't quite a garden as it was mostly unkept and quite large. The grass was trampled in the middle in a sort of circle, from their spars. The grassy area was surrounded by several of the native trees with red leaves and silver trunks. Many violet flowers were growing under the shadows of the leaves. The place was actually quite nice, and Kushina had found it easier to meditate there.

Currently, the sun was on it's way down, but it wasn't quite evening yet. They still had a couple of hours before sundown.

"Alright!" Naiyami exclaimed, and went through some hand signs. _Tori, ne, inu, hitsuji._ Kushina looked at the hand signs and memorized them. Naiyami clearly wasn't used to casting long jutsu and went through the four hand signs at a relatively slow speed. Kushina was almost surprised at the familiar hand signs, but reminded herself that a foreign shinobi had taught these people how to use chakra.

The air behind Naiyami shimmered momentarily, revealing two light gray wings (unfolded and making Naiyami look much larger and more intimidating), matching her hair color. _I wonder if all wings are the same color as people's hair?_ Kushina wondered. If that was the case, there were certainly a lot of brown-winged men in this village.

Kushina unfolded her own wings from their resting position. They had become quite strong from training, and she could almost use them as well as her arms, now. She had studied the sharp-looking feathers when she was on her own, and found them to actually be quite soft. The dagger-effect that the shape of the feathers had was certainly intimidating, but it was nothing more than that. At least until she could learn some clan jutsu from the Guardians - if any of them would be willing to teach her later.

Naiyami put her left foot forwards while reaching her left hand forwards with a flexed palm, keeping the right one more backwards and close to her body. Her weight was on the front leg, and the wings were following her arms - one of them pointed slightly forwards while the other was in a more defensive position. It seemed to be a quite defensible position, not leaving a lot of openings, and even the back was somewhat covered with the right wing.

Kushina copied the pose, with a few corrections from Naiyami. They went through several more kata. The style seemed to focus heavily on being defendable and using the wings as shields, but it also focused on rotation as there was a lot of poses that flowed into each other by turning, and using the long reach of the wings to their advantage (Even though they couldn't really _harm_ anyone unless using some kind of jutsu, it still served to disorient and maybe even shove the enemy, creating an opening).

* * *

When the sun coulored the horizon in a bright shade of red, the two sat down, panting, in front of one of the silver trees. After going through the kata's, they had tried out some of it in a spar. Of course, Naiyami ended up winning, but Kushina put up a good fight.

After sitting there for a while, Kushina broke the silence. "Hey, Naiyami-neechan... Have you ever been outside the village?" she asked, curious because of the clan's ignorance regarding other villages. Naiyami shook her head. "No. I haven't had a reason to.. Why do you ask, Kaiyasa-chan?" Naiyami replied; Kushina had expected that answer, but she still found it somewhat shocking.

"I'm... Just wondering what's out there, that's all." Kushina mumbled, though it might not have been a completely honest answer. She already knew at least some of what was out there; and she knew she couldn't stay with the clan forever. She had important people to get back to, and one important person to punch in the face. Naiyami could see that Kushina wasn't telling the entire truth - they may not have known each other for too long, but they still knew each other well enough.

"Let me guess. You want to go out there, someday?" Naiyami asked, raising an eyebrow at her black-haired apprentice. Kushina smiled at Naiyami; "I do." she answered honestly. Naiyami nodded her head, before staring down at the grass and flowers around them. "I guess this is why you've been asking for combat training?" she murmured. Kushina frowned lightly at Naiyami's reaction. It didn't seem like her Shishō thought very positively of the idea.

"Well, in that case!" Naiyami exclaimed, making Kushina jump slightly at the sudden change of mood. "I might as well take you to the town meeting with me! We have to find a proper Guardian teacher for you!" she continued, the absence of mind she had shown before completely gone. Kushina could guess what this probably implied.

"... Who did you lose?" Kushina asked. Naiyami was wearing a well-woven mask of cheerfulness, and she had woven that mask for a reason. At the blink of an eye, that mask disappeared, leaving Naiyami staring at Kushina with slight shock, then replaced by sorrow, and she looked down at the ground again. She hesitated before speaking up again.

"My... My sister. You remind me of her. She also wanted to go out there..." Naiyami replied with a saddened voice, making Kushina cringe inwardly. She wasn't all that good at talking about serious matters like this. "I'm sorry for your loss..." Kushina replied in a manner she hoped would seem comforting. She had known plenty of people who had lost someone, and loss wasn't a foreign feeling to her either. _Minato..._ she reminded herself. She had spent long nights mourning her dead husband, and hidden behind a mask of her own.

If Naiyami had seen Kushina drop her mask in that split-second, she didn't show it. Instead, she chose to change topics. "So... Want to come with me to the meeting? There's only a couple of days until it's being held in front of geezer-sama's house." Naiyami offered. Kushina nodded eagerly, and Naiyami almost let out a low chuckle. "Then it's decided!"

"But.. Naiyami-neesan... Don't you mind if I want to leave the village?" Kushina asked, slightly confused. Since she reminded Naiyami of her sister, she couldn't imagine why she would let go of her so willingly. Naiyami simply shook her head at Kushina. "Why would I? I'd rather you go and fulfill your dreams than being locked up here forever, like a caged bird". The irony of that comparison was not lost upon Kushina. She nodded and locked her green eyes with Naiyami's blue ones.

"Arigatō... Neesan." Naiyami waved it off and replied "Maa, don't mention it, Imōto." Kushina chuckled inwardly at the way of speaking; it reminded her of Kakashi's.

* * *

Today was the day she would attend the village meeting with Naiyami. Kushina was kind of excited, and was looking forwards to meeting her new sensei. She had also learned the hand signs for hiding her wings, and was slightly surprised to see it worked like a henge, except it was a bit stronger (so that it wouldn't simply disappear when sleeping or knocked out) and it only covered the wings. Kushina was also a bit surprised about the fact that she could still feel her wings - now that she thought it through it was kind of obvious, but Kushina didn't always think things through. Naiyami had been a bit surprised at Kushina's ability to use chakra, but Kushina explained it with her 'amnesia' excuse. That excuse really was like duct-tape. It worked on _everything_.

The road to the village leader's house was relatively far - they lived in the same village and yet it still took them 10 minutes to walk there. The road was not really a road, it was more like a path in the grass that had been walked on so often that the grass had been trodden down. They weren't the only ones who needed to use this path to get to the village's center, but they didn't meet anyone on the way - except for an odd bypassing squirrel, followed by an angry cat who (Kushina noted with some amusement) looked a lot like Tora the demon-cat.

When they finally reached the house of the village leader, there were a few other people there, and most of them looked at Kushina with a suspicious glance, while others looked at her with a friendly smile. She had to restrain herself from walking over to the glaring ones and punch them in the face. She _really_ disliked being looked down upon.

They were standing on a large circle cleared of plants to look more like a meeting place. The wooden house in front of them was probably the only house in the entire village to have a second floor. Not only because it took a lot of extra materials, but also because it meant they wouldn't be able to make a hole in the roof for the fireplace smoke to escape through - that, and the villagers simply didn't need a second floor.

Fifteen minutes later, when almost everyone were gathered, the leader had announced he would be there shortly (and giggled a lot at that comment, considering his below-average height). Kushina noted that a few of the villagers stood out from the small crowd; they were standing in the outskirts of the circle, facing the crowd, and their clothes were different from everyone else's.

First of all, their clothing was a lot thicker. It was still made of animal hides, but it was obviously stiffer, though it still allowed much freedom of movement. They also had a belt with two Gekkō - both hanging from a sheath on each side. They were wearing fingerless gloves, and their boots were of a higher quality than the common civilian ones. Some of them even had shoulder plates, and a single one of them had a scythe attached to his back. All of them were brown-haired, and their slightly-longer-than-average hair was set up in a pony-tail.

_They're probably the Guardians.._ Kushina noted to herself. _The one with the scythe looks interesting..._

Finally, the geezer walked through the door and stood on a spot slightly higher than the rest of the place, to make up for his lacking in height. He also had a cane and sometimes cursed at his back, making Kushina wonder how he held his wings. _They're probably being dragged across the ground._ Kushina snorted in amusement.

"Ahem. Yes, *cough*, I'm glad you _cane_ today. See what I did there? Eh?" the old man said while raising his walking cane, earning annoyed looks and sighs from many of the villagers. He shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of "Damn young people not appreciating humor".

"Alright, alright, got any'hin to discuss? If not, I'm outta 'ere." he said grumpily and crossed his arms at the people he apparently thought were wasting his time, when most of them would probably argue that it was quite the opposite. After going over some trivial matters concerning crops and the likes, the old man fell over, earning a few shocked gasps amongst the crowd. Kushina's was one of them.

When a villager took the courage to walk up to the old man and poking him with a stick, wondering if that geezer would _finally_ be dead, the old man just burst out laughing. "Just kiddin', just kiddin'! Haha, you shoulda seen, *cough*, dem looks on ya faces! I was just playin' possum, kehehe..." he exclaimed and used his cane to push himself up onto his legs.

"Now, are there anymore questions? I wanna go back to sleeping, dammit!" he almost yelled and waved with his staff at the villagers. When no one replied, he simply went inside his house again.

"Is he always like that?" Kushina asked Naiyami, who currently had crossed arms, glaring at the door the old man had left though. "Yes. Yes he is." she replied with an annoyed tone. Clearly Naiyami liked him as little as most of the other villagers. "Now;" Naiyami said. "Let's go find ourselves a Guardian!" Kushina nodded excitedly.

They approached the Guardians who were also starting to dissolve with the crowd to go home with their families. They tried with two of them who gave excuses like "not ready to take an apprentice" and "too busy to train anyone right now". _At least they were nice about rejecting us_. Kushina noted, before they approached the one with the scythe. He didn't seem like he was with anyone, and was mostly just standing on the circle periphery watching the crowd slowly dissolve.

"Hello, sir." Kushina approached, smiling. "Reiden, please." he answered, gesturing for Kushina to continue. "Reiden-san.. I was looking fo-" Reiden cut her off before she could say anything else. "Is it not common courtesy to announce your own name before speaking?" he asked the slightly baffled-looking Kushina.

"O-oh. Yes, I'm sorry, sir! I'm Kaiyasa, and I sometimes get a bit too far ahead of myself.." she stuttered slightly, a bit embarrassed and annoyed at making such a bad first impression.

"Meh. It's okay, Kaiyasa-chan, please do continue." he said, grinning slightly at the borderline-annoyed Kushina at being announced as 'chan' by this stranger.

"As I was saying... Reiden-san, I'm looking for a Guardian to be my sensei". If Reiden was surprised at the statement, he did a good job of hiding it.

"I see. And you want me to teach you? I must warn you, Kaiysasa-chan, my methods are not for the.. Weak of spirit." he replied, making Kushina look at him with her Hi no Ishi burning in her eyes. Reiden raised an eyebrow at the young black-haired girl.

"I see you won't back down no matter what I say. Very well. Be here tomorrow at sunrise - and _don't. Be. Late._" he said in a slightly threatening way. Apparently Reiden was not one who liked being kept waiting.

With that, the last of the crowd dispersed, leaving only Reiden in the small meeting ground.

_Hmm. Interesting girl. This might actually be quite amusing._ he thought to himself before heading off into the woods instead of following the road like everyone else.

* * *

A/N 2: And that was the second chapter. So! Is what I'm doing a good idea or a bad one? I don't know! Please tell me! :)  
Also, sorry if it's a bit slow in the start (I'm trying to cut it down and make as many time-skips as I can without making it too.. hole-y), but there will only be one more chapter in this mud-hole of a village until Kushina sets out to find her own again. But who knows how far she is from the Country of Fire? I do. Kinda. But I'm not saying.

Also, here are some of the words I used that have a translation:  
'Tsubasajin' basically means 'winged people'. I know, very creative.  
'Naiyami' means 'No darkness'  
'Kaiyasa' can be translated to 'difference and meeting'  
'Gekkō' means 'moonlight'. If you want to know what they're inspired from, google 'Malthael's sickles' (That guy from Diablo 3: RoS)  
'Reiden' is simply a name. Nothing special 'bout that one.


	3. Guardian

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Naruto-verse or any of the characters in it. I don't think anyone thinks I own it, but might as well write it anyways...

A/N: Third chapter! This is the last one I have prepared, but I'm already working on the next one. Inspiration, people! It helps with writing (Although all I'm lacking is initiative). Also, apologies about the length of this one, but it just made sense to cut it off there. (It's still kinda close to exactly 4k, though!.. But it's still shorter than the last by 2k words..)

* * *

That night, like most others, Kushina could do nothing while staring at the destruction brought on by the Kyūbi. She had dreamt about that night almost every night since she came to the small remote village. She was good at hiding it, though.

What struck her the hardest was how it all felt so _real_. She could feel the warmth of the flames that consumed the outskirts of the city, she could hear the cries of the civilians, and she could feel her own pained breath... The masked man was always following her. He was everywhere she went, and he had the same Sharingan eyes as the Kyūbi possessed at that moment. As she relieved her last moments with her husband she was suddenly pulled away from the nightmare right before the claw of the Kyūbi could pierce through hers and Minato's chests.

Instead, she found herself standing in the golden glow of her unconscious, looking up at the remains of the Kyūbi. He was no longer restrained by wooden stakes in his nine tails and chest, because of his ridiculously small size. He was actually too small to be nailed to the glowing globe of molten rock, but that didn't mean he wasn't stuck up there.

**"Brat. I'm getting sick of reliving that night, you know."** the Kyūbi growled at her. Kushina sent him an apologizing look. She was surprised to see that waist-long red hair was stuck to her head. "Hey, I look like myself in here, dattebane!" she exclaimed. The Kyūbi, perched on the largest of the stakes that were still attached to the molten globe, sighed and lowered his head. He did actually look a bit pathetic in his current state.

**"Yes, yes, now when are we going to get out of here? I know you're attached to this village, but you have someone to punch in the face, brat." **the Kyūbi reminded her. Kushina nodded enthusiastically with a serious expression on her face. Obviously she took the duty of punching Jiraiya in the face very seriously. "Yessir, mister Kyūbi!" she exclaimed and saluted. _**She really does take this **__**seriously..**_ the Kyūbi thought and huffed.

**"I have a name, you know?"** the Kyūbi sneered at her with an insulted look in his eyes. Kushina blinked twice at this. She had never really thought about it, since she hadn't exactly spent a lot of time with the fur-ball. Now, she felt a bit ashamed for not asking earlier.

"Right... It's common courtesy to announce your own name before speaking to a stranger." she quoted from her earlier conversation with Reiden, and smirked at the slight widening of the Kyūbi's red eyes (perhaps in surprise?) - _They don't actually look too hostile_.. Kushina noted.

"Uzumaki Kushina!" she exclaimed, and continued; "Formerly from Uzushiogakure, and former Jinchūriki of Konoha, also widely known as the Red-Hot Habañero, and currently known as Tsubasajin Kaiyasa, dattebane!"

The Kyūbi smirked at the red-head's introduction, and then proceeded to cackle ominously. **"Do you really think I'd just _give_ away my name so easily? You'll have to earn it, kit."****  
**

"So you're not gonna give me your name? How rude. Oh, well, I'm sure I'll force it out of you eventually." Kushina said with a wide grin, and cracked her knuckles. _Maybe I'm slowly getting through that thick head of his, though. He did mention a name - that's an improvement, dattebane!_

**"Now scram, kit."** Kurama growled, though not with as much anger and hostility as he was known for. **"You need to be there on time, remember?"**

Kushina smiled friendlily at the 'demon' fox, not much larger than double her size. The Kyūbi sneered and looked away. He obviously wasn't entirely ready to drop the 'tough-guy' act, yet. Kushina returned to the 'real world', and the Kyūbi looked at where she had been standing. _**I suppose you have at least somewhat earned my respect, kit. I could've had worse **__**hosts. **_he thought reluctantly, silently wondering when he would be allowed to get down from his cage. It was lacking in space (as all he could currently do was sit down on the wooden stake that had once been pierced through his chest), and the Demon Fox wanted to stretch his legs.

* * *

Kushina opened her eyes, and looked at the gently stream of early light shining through the cracks in the wooden boards that made up the house. She pushed herself up, and looked around. Naiyami had already left to do field-work (specifically tend to the crops that helped keeping the village fed) so she was alone in the house. Judging by the faint light, the sun was just about to rise. Kushina fumbled around in the half-darkness, and ended up using some chakra to enhance her vision, so that she could find her clothes.

She quickly picked it up from the floor behind her bed (she was just as messy as always...) and pulled it on, racing out of the door and, in the process, forgetting to get breakfast.

She ran down the path towards the village center as fast as she could manage with the lack of light. As they say, it's always darkest before sunrise. Just as the clouds were painted pink by the rising sun, she reached the meeting place and found Reiden leaning against his scythe. He nodded acknowledging at her.

"So you've finally decided to arrive? Good! Let's get started." he stated in a fresh manner like he wasn't tired at all. Kushina, however, had dark lines under her eyes, and grumbled at the Guardian with the energy to be enthusiastic in the morning.

He jumped up onto a tree branch and waved for Kushina to follow. As far as Kushina knew, the Guardians didn't jump from tree to tree like shinobi, but she didn't comment on it. To not raise any suspicion, Kushina chose to run after the Guardian on the ground. As far as anyone knew, she couldn't really use chakra, and showing she was capable of more would have unpleasant consequences.

They continued for a while, until they were at a small hut in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Clearly, Reiden knew most of the forest like the back of his hand - Kushina certainly wouldn't have been able to find this place on her own. The hut was not as prestigiously built as most of the other houses, making Kushina wonder if he had built it himself. It was raised slightly over the grass and weeds on a small sort of platform, and around the posts that held it up were silver-blue flowers - the first large flowers Kushina had seen that weren't purple, she noted.

"So how much do you already know?" Reiden asked, arms crossed in front of his chest, observing Kushina with his curious eyes. "Naiyami-san taught me the kata for fighting with Gekkō, and the kata for the Tsubasajin taijutsu style!" Kushina exclaimed excitedly, making Reiden raise an eyebrow. "I see.. Would you mind a spar, then?" he asked, wanting to test out her stills for himself. Kushina nodded enthusiastically, though she was very aware that Reiden would be much stronger than Naiyami.

They both released the genjutsu on their wings, and put themselves into the initial kata of the Tsubasajin taijutsu style. Kushina noted with a raised eyebrow that Reiden's wings didn't match his hair - unlike his brown hair, he had black wings like Kushina. _I wonder if he dyed his hair?_ Kushina thought to herself. Reiden stared at Kushina in an almost creepy fashion, taking in all the details. There was certainly going to be a lot of corrections for her later, but instead of correcting her pose now, he charged at her in a flurry of feathers and limbs. Kushina was quickly overwhelmed by the rapid attacks from Reiden who exploited every little mistake she made, and in no more than 7 seconds, she found herself lying on the ground with a few bruises.

She had barely been able to see the other's movements, much less been able to respond to them. Blinking a few times, she saw the stretched out hand of her new sensei. His eyes were harsh, but not entirely without kindness, Kushina noted before taking his hand.

"We have a lot of work to do." he stated, and they got to work. It was much harsher than the training Naiyami had put her through, but Kushina had the Hi no Ishi. There was no way she was going to give up.

When the sun was setting again, and Kushina beat up, Reiden approached the panting girl lying on the grass. "We should get you home, now." he stated, and Kushina noted with slight envy that Reiden was barely scratched at all. Since she was completely out of breath, she simply nodded, and even that sent pain down the sore muscles on her back.

"Tomorrow we'll continue where we let off. Can you stand up?" he asked, actually genuinely concerned for his new student. Apparently he had taken a liking to her, Kushina observed with a mental grin. His way of teaching might be crude, but it was definitely effective, and that was what Kushina needed the most, right now.

When Kushina collapsed after trying to stand up, Reiden sighed and picked her up in his arms in the bridal pose, making Kushina blush slightly. She hadn't had enough energy to perform the jutsu to hide her wings, so they were visibly hanging limply from her back. Kushina also noted with a grin that she was going to have to get new clothes if they were to continue like they had today, every day. These wouldn't last much longer. She would make sure to ask Naiyami-neesan when she came home. She wouldn't have a chance to do that anytime soon, though, as the exhaustion caught up as the adrenaline vanished, and she passed out.

* * *

When she woke up again from a mental poke of her tenant, she was glad to feel that even in his lesser state, the Kyūbi had still healed her body almost completely. She was still a bit sore in places, but nowhere near as badly as she had been the night before. She also noted that she hadn't had that nightmare again this night and was almost fully rested, for once, which left her wondering how and what the Fox had been doing in her head.

Hurrying up, she searched for her clothes, but was surprised to see a new set of clothes lying at the foot of her bed. This set was much more sturdy than her previous clothes, and would undoubtedly last longer. It actually reminded her a bit of the Guardian's clothing, even though it wasn't quite the same. She wasn't worthy of wearing that uniform, yet. As all of the other clothes, it had discreet holes in the back one wouldn't even notice if one wasn't looking for them. As practical as wings could be, they could also be a bit in the way sometimes. Thankfully, everything in the village was made with having wings in mind.

Kushina realized she hadn't put genjutsu over her wings last night, and flashed through the four hand signs. _Tori, tatsu, ne, i._ she recited, and quickly glanced at the wings that were disappearing in a shimmer of light, like the surface of rippling water. The henge jutsu they used was surprisingly simple, but then again they didn't really need anything complicated.

She put on the clothes and realized she hadn't eaten in _an entire day_. Her stomach quickly confirmed this by rumbling.

Kushina paced over to the pile of charcoal left from the burnt firewood, and put some new logs on it, along with some smaller branches and then finally some small twigs to get the fire going. She picked up the flint and tinder lying in a storage jar and struck them against each other until the sparks hit the twigs that started burning. Kushina blew gently at the flames to make them take hold at the larger branches and finally the logs. After a few minutes she got a nice and large fireplace going, and she got up and got the stand that would hold the cooking pot over the flames.

Kushina then went outside and filled the pot partially with water, before going back to the house and putting some seeds from another storage jar in it as well. If it hadn't been for the bright flames, Kushina wouldn't have been able to see anything as there was still some time left before sunrise. After five minutes, the smell of gruel filled the house. Kushina sighed and stopped stirring as she took the pot off the fire and let it cool down. She was grateful that the fur-ball had awoken her before sunrise, so that she would have time to make breakfast. Sadly, since Naiyami was tending to the cows today, she had still been alone in the house; and she couldn't ask who had given her new clothes, which she was kind of curious about.

When Kushina was done eating, she cleaned the pot and threw the excess water on the fire and the purple flowers in the garden. She would ask Reiden about the silver-blue flowers he had around his house; as much as Kushina liked the purple variation, it was getting a bit monotonous.

She glanced at the garden again, before heading off to the meeting place. The sun would soon rise, and she had a long day ahead of her.

* * *

After two strict weeks with Reiden she was pleased to see that she was surpassing genin level and maybe even heading towards chūnin. Thanks to the Kyūbi, Kushina could develop her abilities much faster than anyone else because of her insane recovery rate - though it wasn't as great as when she had all of the fur-ball instead of just a fragment. If Reiden had been surprised by her recovery-rate, he didn't show it.

They had also worked on kenjutsu and Kushina found out just how mean Reiden was with his scythe. It almost seemed to counter the Gekkō weapons style, making Kushina have to work even harder to even come close to defeating the Guardian. At least this meant she would be better prepared for others with similar weapons. If she could defeat Reiden, she was positive she could defeat almost anyone else at kenjutsu. Well, unless they had some kind of unfair advantage.

Currently they were working on her chakra control, and it was going very well, very fast. She had also learned a few techniques like 'Hane Arashi' that worked by launching a barrage of feathers like kunai, or 'Tetsu Tsubasa Kabe' that worked by enveloping herself in her wings and making the feathers hard like iron. Whenever she meditated, she always had to make sure she didn't meditate too inwardly; as much as she liked seeing the fur-ball, it wasn't the purpose of the exercise. Her concentration was broken by Reiden's footsteps heading towards her, though. She opened her right eye, and glanced at the Guardian.

"I think it's been too long since we've had a spar." he said with an amused gleam in his eye - he was starting to enjoy their spars as Kushina was one of the only people who could actually stand up to him, and frankly she was already better than a lot of the other Guardians. Kushina sent him a foxy grin, and got up on her feet in one fluid motion. "Bring it on." she exclaimed, green eyes meeting grey ones.

They both jumped back from each other, Kushina pulling out her two Gekkō (and real ones too - they had been a gift from Reiden when they were done training kenjutsu) placing herself in a ready-stance, similar to the taijutsu stance, with a backwards grip on both of them, as Reiden pulled out his scythe, placing it along his arms and across his back, so that the head of the scythe was near his left hand and the end was near his right hand.

Reiden charged forwards and jumped, spinning, before bringing his left hand and the head of the scythe down towards Kushina. Kushina changed the grip on her right Gekkō, and caught the rod of the scythe while ducking under the long blade, as she moved her left Gekkō towards Reiden's stomach. Reiden let go of the rod with his right hand, and moved the end of it to intercept Kushina's left-hand Gekkō, changing his grip on the scythe and holding it more like a staff.

Kushina, knowing that in a battle of brute strength Reiden would win, dodged to the side with a flap of her wings, making Reiden's scythe hit the ground, and started on the sequence of hand signs for Hane Arashi. Reiden saw this and quickly executed his own Tetsu Tsubasa Kabe, folding his wings around him as a shield, just as he was bombarded by the kunai-like feathers, repelling them all with the loud sounds of metal against metal.

Kushina had, however, used his short moment of blindness to get behind him, and quickly jumped at his back, both of her Gekkō in a backwards grip and pointed downwards with the intent to rake him. Reiden quickly turned around when he lifted his wings and saw that Kushina was gone, and lifted his scythe vertically just in time to intercept the two Gekkō, which locked them in a stalemate since neither of them could get their weapon free.

They both ended up throwing their weapon aside, and slipped into their taijutsu stances. This time, Kushina was the one to attack first, as she thrusted her right palm towards Reiden who was just about to parry, when Kushina instead turned towards her left, using her wings as a cower while she did so, and just as her right wing moved out of the way, she punched with her left fist.

Reiden was prepared for an attack like that, but only just caught her left hand in time with his right hand. He then punched with his left hand, which Kushina brushed out of the way with her right arm, making an opening that she used to punch him in the gut. He groaned at the force of the impact, and looked at her, acknowledging her skill. She smirked back at him, and they both pulled back, bowing as a gesture of respect.

"You've improved greatly. I don't think there's much more you can learn in this hole of a village." Reiden muttered. Kushina had found out that he didn't like the village very much, and approved of her choice of wanting to leave the village. Kushina was still slightly shocked at her sensei's statement. She didn't entirely believe in his words; if the fight had gone on much longer, Reiden would have been sure to get a lot of hits in on Kushina.

"Don't give me that look." Reiden said, breaking Kushina's chain of thoughts. "I know you could beat me if you didn't hold back". This left Kushina gaping, unsure of what to say to that. Had he known the entire time that Kushina was stronger than anyone thought? Reiden smiled at her expression, which was a rare thing. He was always kind, but he only rarely smiled.

"Don't worry, you don't have to explain anything to me. Now, get out there and follow your dream."

"Th-Thank you, sensei." Kushina stuttered and bowed deeply to her teacher, and for the first time in a while she was genuinely happy. It wouldn't be long now, until Kushina would leave the village.

* * *

When both Kushina and Reiden's breaths had calmed down, Kushina felt like it was a good time to ask him about the flowers, his hair, his house, his scythe... Kushina had had to hold back a lot of questions in the past, and she knew this would probably be one of her last chances to ask her sensei about all of it.

"Reiden-sensei.." Kushina begain, and noted with satisfaction that she had his attention. "Those blue flowers by your house.. Where are they from?"

Reiden seemed to think a bit about that before answering "Let's say a question for a question." He glanced at Kushina who nodded. "I got them from outside this forest. When I was young, I also wanted to go out there... I don't, anymore. Let's leave it at that." he stated, making Kushina wonder if he had lost someone as well. "Now, then. How much were you holding back?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Kushina who simply smirked back at him with her foxy grin.

"A lot more than anyone would think." she replied, which only served to make Reiden even more curious; he chose not to make her elaborate on the matter, though. It wouldn't be fair keeping things to himself and then demanding others not to.

"Alright.. Why is your hair brown?" Kushina asked, earning a confused glance from Reiden. Clearly, that hadn't been one of the questions he had expected.

"Have you seen all of the other men in the village?" Kushina nodded. "That's why. I'm different enough as it is." He stated, and Kushina mumbled to herself. "Fair enough.."

"My turn. Where are you planning to go?" he glanced suspiciously at her. Kushina thought a bit about what she should tell him - clearly he was hoping for an honest answer, and Kushina wasn't much for lying. After a short hesitation she replied;

"I have heard about a place far away with many different people and I want to join them. That, and I have someone to punch in the face." she said, her smile turning into an evil (and also quite scary) grin at the last statement. Reiden pulled a bit back when he saw the scary facial expression on his student, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Reiden to wonder if it had just been his imagination. He nodded at the answer, finding it satisfying.

"Well, then... Why are you living out here alone, and why do you use a scythe?" Kushina asked and Reiden shook his head. "That's two questions, Kaiyasa-chan!" he exclaimed, making Kushina blush a bit in embarrassment. _Oops._ she thought and hoped he would let it slip. Reiden chuckled lightly and answered her questions.

"I'm living out here because I like it here. Besides I don't have a field to keep. Secondly, my father used this scythe before me. Just as Gekkō are passed down, he taught me how to use this scythe." he said, earning a smile from Kushina. "You know what, Reiden-sensei? I like you." she exclaimed, making Reiden roll his eyes and smile at his little cute student. This would be their last proper talk, so they both made sure to make the best out of it, and barely noticed the sun going down.

* * *

So! Give me your opinion! Really, though, I need someone to tell me what I could do better since I have literally no experience with writing fanficiton. Also, I edited this with input from "Gashadokuro Amanojaku" who is currently my only reviewer. :D  
(Still, I -did- get a review in the first 3 hours which I wasn't expecting. That's pretty good, I suppose?)

Also, the translations for this chapter:  
'Hane Arashi' practically means 'Feather storm'. It's not entirely correct grammar since there would be a lot of conjunctions if it had to be - it's more like a shortened version.  
'Tetsu Tsubasa Kabe' somewhat means 'Iron wing wall', but the same applies with this one. 'Tetsu no Tsubasa no Kabe no Jutsu' just sounds ridiculous.


	4. Outset

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never claimed I did. I just put this here because it's apparently required for legal reasons.

* * *

**"So are we gonna leave soon, or what?"** the Nine-Tailed Fox growled with an annoyed tone. Clearly, he was bored. _Yes, I'm just packing. Have a little patience, 'ttebane!_ Kushina thought back at the fur-ball. She had told Naiyami that she would be leaving soon, and the grey-haired Tsubasajin had been a bit sad, but also happy on Kushina's behalf.

Kushina didn't have a lot of belongings - only her two Gekkō in their sheaths, an extra set of clothing (this one from Naiyami - apparently Reiden had been the one to give her the first set), as well as some provisions in the form of carrots and potatoes, which she all put in the cloth pack.

There weren't a lot of people to see her off; only the two unnamed brown-haired men who had found her (and honestly Kushina couldn't understand why they had bothered showing up), Naiyami, and Reiden. She hugged Naiyami one last time with a "Goodbye, neechan." and she lowered her head in respect to Reiden with a "Goodbye, sensei..." before throwing her small cloth pack over her shoulder and wandering away from the village. She had no idea where she was headed, but she would probably find a village eventually that could point her towards the Land of Fire.

She walked away without looking back. She would have too many doubts if she did, even though there were a lot of important people she had to get back to (**"And an important person to punch in the face!"** the Kyūbi reminded her). During her time in the village she had really started to appreciate the small society, but she had always known she couldn't stay there forever.

As she wandered down the lonely road and then out of the village and through the silver forest, she only had one person to keep her company. They did talk a bit, but anyone would know that the Demon Fox isn't the most talkative person. He was a lot nice than he had been though, and he didn't insult her nearly as much as he had done in the past. It did also help that the Kyūbi was bored himself, and only had one person to talk to.

When they were jumping through the trees and could see the faint light of the world outside the forest, the Kyūbi interrupted her.

**"Kushina.." **the Fox Bijū said; Kushina knew that he wouldn't use her name unless he was about to say something serious, and stopped on a large branch of one of the silver trees. She closed her eyes and slipped into her subconscious.

"Kyūbi..?" she asked, looking up at the little shape of the nine-tails. If she didn't know better, she would almost say he looked a bit _embarrassed_.

**"Hn.. I was just wondering when you're going to let me down from here."** he defended himself and crossed his arms. Kushina blinked twice. _That_ was why he wanted to talk?

"Uhhm.. I don't know. Why should I, 'ttebane?" Kushina asked, slightly suspicious of the Kyūbi's behavior. He hesitated before answering. **"It's.. Getting a bit tight up here."** he admitted. Kushina didn't know what to answer to that. With all of the times he had plotted to get out again, somehow.. This didn't seem like one of those times.

"And how do I know I can trust you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the miniature Bijū. He sighed and shook his head. **"Do you really think I can break out in my current state? Sure, I could got out there with permission but I'm still just a mere shell of my former greatness."** he growled, still annoyed at his current situation. He also hated the fact that he wasn't all that intimidating anymore because of his downgraded size.

**"Besides, my chakra might help you. I can't give you a lot as it is, but most of my purposes in life have been taken away, anyways."** he sneered. Something about the look in his eyes, actually made Kushina want to believe him. She then remembered the incident and quickly dismissed the thought. _No way. That fox killed me! I'm not letting him out again after what happened._ Kushina's expression turned from confusion to anger.

"No. You destroyed parts of Konoha. You _killed_ me! You killed Minato! You forced my son to live his life in misery! I can't release you after that, dattebane!" she exclaimed, and the fox closed his eyes before replying.

**"Hn. I suppose that is understandable. Very well, brat, I can tolerate this a bit more. But remember who you're dealing with!"** the demon fox sneered at Kushina, and opened his eyes again to stare at her with those deep red eyes. She looked him in the eyes with a harsh expression in her own lavender eyes. "That I will, Kyūbi. You can be certain of that!" she said before leaving her subconscious. The talk had gotten her into a bad mood, and when she opened her eyes again, she punched the trunk of the tree with a chakra-infused fist, making the tree snap and the upper half fall down, only remaining attached to the rest of the tree by a bit of intact bark.

Inside her mind, the Kyūbi sighed and wondered if he was ever going to get down from there. What Kushina hadn't noticed, was that he was slightly larger than the last time she saw him. _**If I can't talk her into working with me.. I'll just have to do this the hard** **way. **_he thought with a low growl.

* * *

After a couple of days of traveling, Kushina finally came across a village - and quite a large one, actually. It wasn't comparable to the five Hidden Villages, but it was still more industrial than the one she had left, with merchants and rows of different-sized houses in many different colors. She approached the gates with wide eyes. _There are so many people!_ she thought. It was definitely a merchant's town, and from the distance she could see entire streets that were littered with stands selling different kinds of wares from all over the country.

Kushina slowed down and walked towards the city gates. Running straight at the guards might not be the best way to approach them. In front of the gate were two guards wearing sort of black iron armor with a mask representing an abstract dragon-looking creature's face. They had two swords at their left sides with different length. _Must be hot inside those things._ Kushina thought and stared at the black armor.

"Halt!" one of the guards exclaimed with a deep echoing voice, thanks to the armor. "Hail!" Kushina replied and raised her hand in a greeting, with a friendly smile. She found it annoying that the guards were wearing those masks, as she couldn't see their facial expressions.

"What is your purpose in this village?" the same guard continued, holding his left hand threateningly over his swords. _Isn't it a bit weird for them to be threatening children?_ Kushina thought and raised an eyebrow. "I'm only passing through. Oh, and I'm looking for the Fire Country! Have any of you seen it?" she asked the two guards, who shook their heads. _Oh, well, it was worth a try, 'ttebane!_ she sighed. What she didn't see, was that one of them face-palmed after that.

"Please come closer for inspection." the other guard commanded. Kushina decided to do so, and wondered if they were going to accidentally come across her wings. That might not be so great if they did, and it would certainly raise questions. Kushina didn't want to stand out. She wasn't the best at genjutsu, but she should be able to cast one that would make the guard want to stay away from her back.

The guard inspected her, and then gestured towards her cloth pack, which reminded Kushina that she had weapons in that.. Yeah, might not be so good if they saw that either, and she couldn't just put genjutsu on everything. She was nowhere near as good with genjutsu as she should be, and could only do the basic things like henge. The trick with manipulating others was one she had learnt from Kurenai's mother, but it was limited how much it could affect, and depended strongly on the will of the subject, and Kushina didn't have the chakra control to do much more with it.

_If I tried, could I outrun these guys?.._ Kushina pondered. She would have to make a decision soon, if she didn't want to face the wrath of two armed guards. Sure, it would raise some alarms if she ran away, but she hadn't been kunoichi in her former life for nothing. _I guess I'll take that chance, 'ttebane!_ she thought, and sat off, leaving the two guards to stare at her. Kushina wished she could've seen their facial expressions; they were probably hilarious. The guard yelled something like "Catch that girl!", and all the guards in the area immediately turned to face Kushina.

"Uhhmm.. Yep, I'm off!" she exclaimed, before Shunshin'ing away to the nearest market place. _Now I'll just need to henge into someone..._ she thought, and tried to think of a good disguise. _I wonder if I can henge into myself?.. Well, what's the worst that could happen?_ she clasped her hands together, exclaiming "Henge!". She looked down at herself, and found she didn't look _quite_ like she used to. Her features were the same, but her hair was still that raven black, and she guessed her eyes were probably still green, too. However, it was still enough for her not to be recognizable. She was also glad to note that she was wearing a familiar green dress, which was probably a good thing since her current clothes was quite primitive. _I guess I can only henge into myself with enough changes to still be distinguishable..._ she thought a bit about that, and what it implied.

_Oh, well, I'm off to the nearest bar! Rumors spread like wildfire in those places._ she grinned, and remembered what she had learnt from Jiraiya. It felt good, being able to use some of her old skills again, even if it was just Shunshin, Henge, a bit of genjutsu and information-gathering. She still had to find some paper and ink, but frankly she didn't have any money.

Meanwhile, the guards were running through the crowd, confused and yelling at each other. It was actually a quite comical display, and Kushina couldn't keep herself from smirking. When the guards left again, believing she had gone to some other part of the city, she got back to the matter at hand, and looked around, thinking about a way in which she could earn money. She would feel a bit low if she simply went over to someone and pick pocketed, but she was starting to run out of options. She sighed and went through the crowd, constantly observing the people and looking for targets. They would have to be wealthy people who could afford to lose the money, and she had to make sure no one saw her. Again, she was happy to be a former kunoichi._  
_

Walking around for a few minutes, she finally spotted a target. It was a woman with a purple kimono, too much makeup, and her own black hair set up in a bun. She was walking around with a bag, and her attitude just screamed 'wealthy'. The way she looked down on some of the poorer people made Kushina want to punch _her_ in the face as well. However, it would cause an even larger commotion than her little stunt with the guards, and she couldn't keep outrunning them forever.

Walking over to the woman, she 'accidentally' pushed her, while reaching down into her bag. _Jackpot!_ she thought with a mental grin. "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry!" Kushina exclaimed and reached to grab the woman's arm before she could fall, but the woman righted herself with a step backwards, and glared at Kushina while dusting herself off. "Hm!" she exclaimed and walked off in an insulted manner. When Kushina was sure the lady couldn't see her, she glared back. _Rich people! Their attitude is outrageous!_

She looked down at the hand she had used to reach into the bag with and found the lady's pouch. Kushina smirked. Judging by the weight, there would be enough for everything she needed, so she decided to go look for some ink and paper - going to a bar could wait. She thought about buying shinobi gear as well, but decided it could wait until she reached Konoha. Until then, her Gekkō and wings would have be enough protection.

After 15 minutes, and finding said materials at a literature store, Kushina looked at the ink with an evil grin. _Fūinjutsu time!_ she thought with a mental cackle. She would still have to relearn calligraphy, though. Even if she knew how to make the signs, her hand-movements weren't precise enough yet, and it would be more difficult to get the seals right.

Now, she just needed to find a local bar and get information. She just hoped she wasn't too far away from the Elemental Countries; but since the Tsubasajin village had been completely oblivious to the rest of the world, she didn't really have any way of knowing. She walked into the most 'local' place she could find. It wasn't as prestigious as many other bars, but Kushina was only visiting because of necessity; not desire.

The other people in the bar (mostly men) were looking at her as she entered through the swing-door and approached the counter. Some of them were grinning, while some of them just looked away again. Kushina decided to sit down in the far end of the bar at a corner, and when the bartender approached her, she just ordered a glass of sake. _Sure, I may be 10 and too young to drink this stuff, but I don't care, 'ttebane._

The bartender nodded, and Kushina leaned against the shadows of the wall, listening to the rest of the bar. She noted with some amusement that her black hair was pretty much the opposite of her once red hair; where her red hair had gained a lot of attention and was easy to spot, her black hair was pretty common and helped her blend in with the shadows.

The bartender gave her the sake, and Kushina simply decided to sit with it for a while. _Holding a drink raises less suspicion._ she quoted Jiraiya in her mind, leaving out the not-so-serious parts. Maybe it wasn't exactly what he had said, but it was what he had meant. Which also reminded Kushina that she still had to punch him in the face. She also held off on drinking it because she was a lightweight - and even more so, now. It wouldn't do to become tipsy while searching for information, as it could make her accidentally blow her cover... Kushina could get very violent when drunk. Sure, Jiraiya would be able to pull it off, but he's had years of training.

Most of the talk in the bar wasn't anything noteworthy. Just local rumors or personal matters. She sharpened her ears, though, when she head someone mention the Water Country.

"Water Country, eh? I heard it was pretty hostile tho' with their Blood Mist village." one of the people said. The other, covered by a dark cloak, simply shook his head. "So yer lookin' for a crew? Good luck with tha'." the person continued, when the other didn't say anything. Kushina decided it was a good time to approach.

"Looking for crew? Well, you can count me in, 'ttebane!" she exclaimed. The dark-cloaked one looked at Kushina with a raised eyebrow, under his hood. He considered for a moment before answering; "I think I already have most of my crew collected. How would you say you can contribute?" he asked with a deep voice. Kushina wondered where he was from. He seemed kind of powerful, but he didn't look like a shinobi.

The other man looked at the dark-clothed one with a shocked expression. "Ya not seriously thinkin' 'bout taking her in, are ye?!" he exclaimed. One look from the mysterious man silenced him, before he looked back at Kushina, still awaiting an answer.

"I'm stronger than I look. I can fight." she answered, and the hooded man nodded. "Even though I don't think we'll need it... Yes, we could use a guard." he stated, and looked at the other person who was just about to exclaim something else. "Come." the man in dark clothing said, taking Kushina with him outside the bar. They walked down some alleys, before coming to a dead end, where they could be alone. If Kushina hadn't been good at fighting, she wouldn't have followed the shady guy into a closed-off alley.

"The name's Higure." he stated, pulling down his hood, revealing red hair, grey eyes, and a middle-aged weary face. Kushina had to hold back a gasp. _Could he.. Is he.. From Uzushiogakure?!_

Kushina lowered her head slightly in a gesture of honor before answering; "Kaiyasa." Higure nodded at her, looking like he was thinking about something.

"Alright, Kaiyasa-san, how good are you at fighting?" he asked, crossing his arms under his black cape. Kushina thought a bit about an answer.

"I'd say... Do you know the shinobi ranking system? I'd probably be somewhere around chūnin in most aspects." she replied, earning another nod from Higure. "That'll do." he replied, before pulling up his hood again. Just before he was about to leave, Kushina stopped him. "Why did you take me here?" she asked, earning a sigh from the dark-caped Higure.

"Because you never know who's listening." he replied. "Meet me at the gates tomorrow at sunrise. We'll travel towards the Kasemi Cape and take a ship from there. This will be an escort mission, and rewarded as such." he said, and left Kushina alone in the alley. _Kasemi Cape, eh? Never heard of it... Maybe I should've payed attention in geography. _she thought, before going off herself, to find a cheap hotel.

* * *

That night, she was pulled out of her dreams and into her unconscious by a grinning demon fox. Kushina looked at the Kyūbi with a mix of anger, confusion, and a small bit of gratitude. It hadn't been a very good dream. This only served to make his grin wider.

"So why am I here, 'ttebane?" she glared at him. She hadn't forgotten about their last conversation, but she didn't feel as much resentment currently, as she had back then.

**"Because I need your help."** the fox grinned at her with a dangerous glint in his eyes. This seemed to confuse Kushina even further, and the Kyūbi was glad to note that he had her attention. "And why would the oh, mighty demon fox ask this humble human for assistance?" Kushina asked with a sarcastic voice, crossing her arms and glaring at the fox. Obviously, he was up to no good.

**"Because of _that man._ We need to do something about Madara. Don't deny it, kit, this concerns you as well. He's after the greater part of me inside your kit."** he stated with satisfaction, as he saw the realization dawn upon Kushina. She knew Madara would be a problem in the future, and was angry about the mention of Naruto being in danger, but was confused as to why the fur-ball would bring it up right now.

"And why do you need my help with him? Why bring it up now?" Kushina asked with a suspicious glance. The fox looked down at her, his nine tails swaying in anger and annoyance. **"Because I can't stop him, and you don't have the power to. Face it, brat, you're an ant compared to him."** Kushina could see where this was going, but had to ask anyways.

"And what do you have in mind?" The fox smiled in satisfaction at the question. **"Use my power. It would increase your chances from 'non-existent' to 'maybe possible'."** Kushina still wasn't convinced at this. She didn't trust the fox at all, and thought that this would probably be another plot to get free.

"I still don't trust you." she stated. The fox nodded. **"I know, but the enemy of my enemy..."** the fox started.

".. Is my friend." Kushina ended the sentence. She knew that she had to protect the people she came back for, and she knew she wasn't powerful enough.

"You know what, Kyūbi? I'm tempted to give you a chance, but not unless it becomes clear that there is no way around it. And not unless you tell me your name. Call it an act of 'friendship'." Kushina stated, looking the fox in the eyes. She wasn't glaring at him anymore - instead a sly smile started to spread across her face. She knew that the day the Kyūbi would trust anyone with his name, would be the day Jiraiya stopped being a pervert. And with that, also the day Kushina would no longer want to punch him in the face. _That's a weird thought.._ Kushina realized.

The Kyūbi's features quickly went through several emotions (anger, shock, denial, more anger, and a bit acceptance) before ending with a smug facial expression. **"Well played, brat." **he said, before throwing Kushina out of her own subconscious. _Huh.. I think that's the first time I haven't left myself._ she realized, before going back to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

When the sun rose again, Kushina was already checking out of the hotel room and heading for the gates. She still had plenty of money left from that rich person she pick pocketed, and would have enough for at least getting to Fire Country. As long as she could get to Water Country with Higure, she could rent a boat, or somehow get on another ship. From there, it would just be a matter of time until she could get back to Konoha. She fought to hold back an excited squeal at being able to see her entire extended family again; which made her remember the red hair of her host. She would have to ask him about that.

When she neared the gates she double-checked that her henge was still on, before walking past the guards who shot an extra glance at the green-eyed person with waist-long black hair. Kushina would have to keep up this appearance for quite a while to come. Thankfully she still had somewhat large chakra reserves - not as great as in her previous life, but nothing to scoff at either - and she would be able to keep up the henge for a long time. Her biggest concern was what she would do while sleeping. _Bah, cross that bridge when we get to it, 'ttebane!_ Kushina thought, not really wanting to think about it too much.

She looked around, wondering where Higure was; until she noticed faint movement in a pine tree further along the road. Smirking in satisfaction she waved at the shape, who jumped down and landed in a ring of dust as the sand on the dirt-road was blown up form the impact, his cloak flaring dramatically. "You have good observational skills." he noted, and Kushina nodded. Thankfully, it seemed like she had made a good enough impression on the older red-head, whose hair was still obscured from vision by the hood of the cloak.

Higure looked to the sides to see if there were anyone around, before he whistled loudly. At his command, two horses approached from the trees of the pine forest in the distance. They weren't all that large, but they seemed sturdy and strong. Higure gestured towards the smaller one. "You can release the henge." he stated, making Kushina's eyes widen a bit. She didn't really know what he would say about having a 10-year-old child as an escort. He just looked at her knowingly. Kushina nodded, and did as he commanded, disappearing in a puff of smoke and being replaced by the 10-year-old girl that she currently was. Higure just looked at her with the same stern expression he always seemed to wear.

"Good." he simply said, before climbing onto the slightly larger brown horse. Kushina climbed onto the back of the smaller grey one, who whinnied before following the other horse in gallop. As they rode through the forest, Kushina had to restrain herself from bombarding this secretive man with questions. Higure, who always seemed to know what was going on, glanced at her from under his hood. "Yes?" he asked, seeing the impatience of the black-haired girl who could barely restrain herself.

"Uh.." Kushina started, unsure of what to ask first. His background? Red hair? Purpose in going to Water Country? When they would arrive? She decided to go for the question she had wanted to ask first.

"Why do you have red hair?" she asked, earning a snort from the older male (maybe that was the closest he could come to being amused?). "Because my parents had red hair. I thought that would be easy to guess for a bright girl like yourself." he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He had probably noticed Kushina's underlying question, but had answered the obvious question instead, making Kushina slightly annoyed. Clearly she wouldn't get an answer with the subtle approach.

"Are you from Uzushiogakure?" she asked instead, going straight to the point. Higure seemed slightly surprised she knew of the destroyed village since it was rarely mentioned nowadays. "Heh, I suppose I have roots there, yes." was all he answered to that. Kushina felt that it was probably all she was going to get out of him, so she decided to change topic.

"Hm... So when are we going to be there?" Kushina decided to ask, letting her impatience get the better of her.

"It won't be too long. A day's travel at this speed should do it." Higure replied with a neutral tone. Kushina nodded. They continued like this for a couple of hours, before Kushina felt like it would be alright to ask him about something again. At this point, the forest was replaced by an open meadow, though she could see more pine trees in the distance. _There sure are a lot of pine trees here, 'ttebane.._ She almost thought she heard the amused chuckle of the Kyūbi in the background.

"Higure-san..." she said, gaining the attention of said man. "Why are you going to Water Country?" she continued. Higure sighed. "To see someone. To be honest, I'd rather not go there if it wasn't necessary." Kushina felt satisfied with the answer, until Higure decided to ask her; "And what are your purposes in Water Country?"

"Who says I have a purpose there?" Kushina countered. Higure shook his head. "It is quite obvious you were waiting for a chance like that. Sitting in the shadows in a bar with a full glass of sake, eavesdropping on everyone else and then swiftly approaching as soon as you saw your chance." he said, baffling Kushina. _This guy... I swear, it's like he knows EVERYTHING._ Kushina thought, not taking her eyes off of Higure until he coughed; apparently he didn't like it when people were staring at him too much, which really was no wonder since he dresses in a black cloak and hides every distinguishable feature about himself.

Kushina realised he was still waiting for an answer, and exclaimed "I'm just passing through there!", earning a nod from Higure. He was probably going to figure out exactly where she was going, just by that sentence, Kushina realized with a scowl.

When the sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon in a red glow, Higure signaled to a stop. "We'll rest here for the night." He pointed towards a place some 200 meters to the side of the dirt road - a flat ground surrounded by the large pine trees that could be seen everywhere in the forest. Kushina nodded, and got down from her horse, taking its reins and going to the appointed place on foot, with the grey horse right behind her.

"I'll take the first watch" Kushina stated, and looked at Higure to get confirmation. He nodded at her, and tied his horse to a nearby tree trunk, before sitting down against it and wrapping himself in his cape, making himself close to invisible to the untrained eye. His breath shallowed, until Kushina was sure he had entered a light sleep. Having tied her own horse to a tree, she jumped up onto one of the larger branches of one of the pine trees to keep watch over the night from a vantage point.

Now that she was alone, she dared to undo the henge on her wings, and held them close to her body. They worked a bit like Higure's cloak, and made her very difficult to spot in the darkness of night. The only reason she hadn't undone the henge before, was that she would rather not raise suspicion about herself. While she didn't mind Higure knowing, and somewhat trusted him as a distant relative, she couldn't know who would be watching them from afar and she would rather not endanger her 'client' by having an unusual bloodline.

Sighing, she sat back against the trunk of the tree, staring out into the darkness. _This is going to be a long night, 'ttebane... _She thought to herself and drew forth a piece of paper, starting to scribble lines and patterns on it. _Hopefully this will be a detection seal, if it doesn't blow up in my face.._

**"We'll see.." **the Kyūbi muttered in the background.

* * *

When Kushina opened her eyes after half a night of sleep, she was glad to see the sun barely above the horizon. _If that's east.._ she started, but immediately broke her chain of thoughts when she realized she was still too tired to think properly.

During the night, she and Higure had switched places, Kushina sleeping in the comfort of her own wings, and Higure perched on a branch, covered by his dark cloak. Her dreams had been far from comfortable though, and this time they were featuring the masked man - apparently one does not simply get over dying. Higure hadn't said anything about her wings, making Kushina wonder if he had known about that part, as well.

Kushina got up with an 'oomph' and beat her wings once to shake off the dirt, blowing away the leaves around her in the process, before using a henge on them again. They would probably be at the Kasemi Cape around noon, according to Higure.

Their trip was surprisingly uneventful. Higure was almost as talkative as the Kyūbi, which was really saying a lot. He also never answered a question with more than one sentence.

The only things they encountered were forest animals, and twice they met people traveling in the other direction. They were never confronted by anyone though, and people walked in a large circle past the shady cloaked figure that was Higure. It made Kushina feel a bit bad, like she was ripping the man off, since he really didn't need a bodyguard. He never complained, though.

When the sunlight fell through the branches of the pine trees from directly above them, Kushina knew they would be there soon. And not long after, they could see the faint outline of walls in the distance, and smell the salt in the air, as the forest grew thinner and the trees became fewer.

* * *

A/N: Fourth chapter! Yaay!  
Any mistake you see here, is mine. I don't have a beta, and I don't have any friends who are willing to read this through and tell me if I do anything wrong. And screw that 'regular updates' thing, I'll just pump these out as I take time to write them. I'm too impatient to stick to a schedule :P

Words that may or may not mean something:  
'Higure' means nightfall. I just needed a name, and that seemed to suit his character.  
'Kasemi' is the name of the day cicada. I didn't really choose that name for the meaning, though. Just 'cause it sounded nice.


	5. Crossing

**A/N**: Do I even need to put a disclaimer here? I take that as a 'no'. Anyways; fifth chapter! I can't wait until I finally get to drag Kushina back to Konoha. It might make the story a bit more interesting; hopefully there'll only be one more chapter before she reaches the gates, if not less.

* * *

Kushina smelt the salt in the air and smiled faintly at the familiar scent. It reminded her of Uzushiogakure, her childhood home that had long since been destroyed. The horses trotted towards their destination with renewed resolve, being motivated by the sight of the city walls. They would probably have went into gallop if not for Higure restraining them. Instead, they just neighed in impatience.

As the pine trees disappeared completely, they were left on the open field right outside the walls, immediately heading for the stables. The sun had moved a bit past noon by the time they had left the horses by their new owner, with a bit of extra money to pay the crew, and were entering the city. This place was not nearly as strict with their inspection, and the only thing they really checked was if there were exported wares in large quantities. They even allowed weapons, as they were used to people having armed guards or shinobi on the ships.

This place also had some market stalls, through not with the same quantity of exotic wares. Instead the smell of salt was quickly replaced by that of fish, and the streets were filled with shouts of 'fish for sale!'. It was, however, the largest quantity of different fish Kushina had ever seen, and she had to applaud the fishermen for some of them. The 10 meter swordfish especially caught her eye, and she would probably have stopped up if Higure hadn't ushered her forwards through the crowd. Apparently he didn't like crowds, either.

The people walking on the streets of the city of Kasemi Cape were an odd bunch - all with different clothing styles, hair color, and the largest arsenal of visibly worn weapons in any city she had ever seen. She grinned at what a kenjutsu expert might have said about this place; she could almost imagine the starry eyes.

What really amazed Kushina though, was the blue, blue sea that had just come into view. The docks of the Cape were bustling with people on different wooden contraptions and ships filled with wares. Piers went out from the mainland everywhere, and the docks went on for as far as she could see. Many different colored flags with many flamboyant patterns adorned the masts of several hundred ships, making the horizon look astonishingly breathtaking.

She looked to Higure, eyes wide in amazement, making him sigh lightly at her. The strong winds from the mainland made for great sailing weather, and it took hold of Higure's cloak, pulling down his hood and wavering his red hair, before he pulled up his hood and held it there with an annoyed snort. "I'll go get the crew. You have twenty minutes before you should be at dock 34, northern city." he stated, his eyes running over the crowd as he spoke. He really was a paranoid figure. Kushina was basically bursting with joy at the prospect of getting to explore the strange city with so many differences, and all of the styles from all over the world, clashing together in a chaotic, yet harmonic, display of colors and shapes. Higure held her eyes for a moment, before turning in one motion and walking off, his cloak still blowing dramatically in the wind.

Kushina wondered what she should do, and quickly found herself just wandering around these strange and foreign streets. The merchants that weren't selling fish were alluring, and every time she saw one she simply had to look at the display of wares; jewelry, clothing, tools, and on occasion, shonbi gear. One of the many shops especially caught her attention, though. Inside was displayed a large ebon scythe, a 1 meter long blade made of a dim metal attached to the top, and several patterns spiraling around the rod. Kushina usually wasn't someone to appreciate weaponry, but having seen what a scythe could do in combat... And it was the perfect match for her Gekkō, too! With those two kenjutsu styles, she felt like she could challenge anyone.

Kushina approached the shop-owner, a large man in his 50's, with black beard stubbles and a tattoo on his arm. He was wearing ragged clothing and chewing absently on a senbon, while looking in a magazine of sorts. Kushina wasn't sure she wanted to know what was in that one. She coughed loudly, to make the man aware of her presence. He absentmindedly glanced at her, and looked back at his magazine. _That_ made Kushina angry. She hated being ignored. Grtting her teeth together, she coughed once more, this time louder and much less subtle. This time the man sighed, and looked up from his magazine.

"Whaddaya want, kiddo? I'm busy here." he grumbled. Kushina glared at the man and crossed her arms. It was quite obvious he hadn't been busy - at least not with anything important.

"How much for the scythe?" Kushina asked, trying to sound at least _somewhat_ nice. The man raised an eyebrow at the little girl who, he thought, couldn't possibly handle a weapon of that size effectively. The glare she sent him silenced him, though.

"Depends on how much ya got." he replied, just about to look down at his magazine again when he heard a loud 'thump' on his counter, his eyes widening at the sack of coins she had just presented him with. "That'll do.." he murmured, silently calculating how many magazines he would be able to afford with that kind of money. Kushina smirked, satisfied, and took the scythe from the weapon's rack. Before leaving, she turned to the man. "Do you have a holster to wear it on my back?" The man immediately went out in some back room, before returning again and tossing something to Kushina. She had overpaid him, so this was something he could do with a good conscience.

"Thanks," Kushina said, before trotting back outside, now with the large scythe attached to her back. It was almost too large for her, but she was just about able to keep the end off the ground with her size. _Damn, it's annoying being short, dattebane! _Kushina thought tiredly. The Kyūbi bared his fangs in the back of her mind. **"You think _you _have it difficult?"** he snorted. Kushina just ignored him, though he made a valid point.

After walking around some more, staring at some of the items the merchants (though they couldn't really be called that; they looked more like pirates, but Kushina would rather not think about it) had for sale, and buying a few shuriken and some shin and arm protectors, she noticed that she was being followed. She increased her pace subtly, checking if they would do the same. When they did, Kushina started to head for the most crowded place she could find, instead of being in an alley like she was now.

The men didn't look like much more than mercenaries, maybe enough to beat a genin since there were three of them, but Kushina was fairly certain she could defeat them if it came to that. She would prefer just losing them, though. She didn't want to cause an upstart, since Higure might think ill about it, and it could very easily complicate their departure from Kasemi Cape.

She was cut off, however, by three more approaching her from the other side, their gazes locked onto Kushina, making her certain that they were all accomplices. Her lip turned downwards into a subtle frown, looking around and seeing that the civilians (or at least as much civilian as one could be in these parts) were moving away from her. Clearly, people knew these thugs.

Kushina pulled out her newly acquired scythe, holding it like Reiden had always done. It was slightly too long for her current size, but she hoped she would grow taller. If she didn't... Well, that would suck. She thought about releasing the henge on her wings, before deciding against it. They were only thugs, after all...

Her process of thought was immediately paused, as one of the men had pulled forth two cutlasses, charging towards her. She wondered if it might have been a good idea to use her more familiar weapons instead, since the odds were almost against her. _Almost._

She jumped up into the air, right before the cutlass-armed man could strike her, and spun around before directing the scythe at his back. The blow was blocked though, by a man with a morning star who had charged shortly after the first one. Gritting her teeth, Kushina quickly released her scythe and used Kawarimi before hitting the ground, replacing herself with a rock she had seen lying on the street. Preparing for the chance of having to use more ninjutsu, she readied her hands in the hitsuji (ram) seal and started molding chakra. She jumped up on the roof of a nearby building to stay momentarily out of range. Her ninjutsu skills were limited, as she had always relied on her seals, and currently she cursed herself for that. Changing to the tora (tiger) seal, she exclaimed;

"Suiton: Teppōdama!" Six small and very fast bullets of water flew out of her mouth, on at a time and towards the attackers whose eyes widened a bit at the use of ninjutsu. Two of them had seen her mold chakra though, and jumped to the side of the water bullet; though their four teammates weren't as lucky and were hit by the fast bullet - either knocked hard into the ground, knocking some of them unconscious in addition to having a non-lethal wound, while the others stayed down due to the pain. Kushina snorted - _wusses_. That pain was _nothing_ compared to being impaled by a claw.

The two left standing, namely one with a semi-large scabbard and one with a pretty large hammer, glared at her, before charging. Six of them might have had a chance with coordinated attacks, but two of them? They probably wouldn't stand a chance.

Kushina unsheathed her Gekkō, slipping into the first kata, with a fox-like grin. The first one with the scabbard had his blow easily blocked, but he jumped back before Kushina could hit him. The one with the large hammer took a swing at her, and Kushina jumped up into the air. _Yikes.. Better not get hit by that!_ she thought, flinching slightly at the image of being thwarted by that thing. The one holding the hammer didn't seem to be too bright though, and Kushina landed on his back just about to hit him when the one with the scabbard took a swing at her, and she had to kick off._  
_

_Slippery.. Bastards.. _Kushina thought and gritted her teeth. Jumping at the scabbard wielding thug, she made sure that the hammer-wielding one was out of range, before using her dual weapons as an advantage over the larger scabbard; if it wasn't because of her strength they may have been equal, but Kushina didn't train every day for four months for nothing.

Many scabbard swings were blocked, but Kushina could take fleeting swings at the thug, and though none of them were lethal, they looked like they might sting a lot. Now the hammer-wielding one approached her, seeing his teammate having to fend for himself. Kushina disengaged, pulling forth the shuriken she had bought earlier that day and threw them. They were both able to avoid hits on their vital points (though the large one, mostly because of his size), but most of the shuriken that hadn't been parried by the scabbard still drew blood, and many of them stuck in the larger of the thugs, who was forced to release his grip on the hammer, and fell to his knees.

The last one to remain standing, wasn't looking too good himself. His clothes was torn in many places, and dried blood covered the gashes. He frantically looked around for his teammates who had all fallen, before falling to his knees himself, dropping his scabbard and admitting defeat. Kushina realized that she had actually been able to work up a bit of a sweat, which she found unexpected. She really wasn't as strong as she used to be, especially not without her seals...

"Ahem.." A voice startled the weary Kushina, who flew around with her weapons raised. Seeing the dark cloaked figure, she immediately sheathed them, sending an apologetic glance. He nodded at her, glancing at the thugs for a moment, before continuing. "We have a ship to get back to. I have assembled the crew and we're leaving as soon as possible." Kushina nodded and retrieved her scythe, before the two headed off towards the docks.

* * *

Kushina felt her hair get blown backwards by the strong winds at sea. She really enjoyed the fresh air, and the company of the seagulls that were once in a while circling their ship. The feeling was almost too nostalgic, and Kushina had to beware not to get dragged down by her memories.

The ship Higure had presented her with wasn't very prestigious, but it was definitely sturdy and would be able to take most storms with ease. It held a single large white sail, and was overall pretty plain. It didn't have any noteworthy carvings, and was made with the intent of getting to the location instead of looking pretty, which Kushina could appreciate. They had a captain's cabin with several naval maps and equipment, and a below decks where the crew would sleep and supplies were kept.

The crew were a shady bunch, though not as much as their captain, the cloaked Higure. They had all scowled a bit at Kushina at first, until she had put them in their place; usually with a fist to the jaw, if it escalated too quickly before anyone could stop her. She was quickly revered on the ship, almost as much as the captain, if not even a bit more.

Their supplies would last them for four days - plenty of time to get to the destination. As much as Kushina liked the ocean, she knew this would get boring eventually. Sighing, she placed her head in her hand, her elbow resting on the railing. This would be a long journey.. _Good thing I don't get seasick, dattebane!_

* * *

Somewhere else...

Drips could be heard from the somewhat broken pipes running along cracked walls, the drops hitting the ankle-deep water that covered the floor. The place had a sinister feeling - and the ominous darkness and heavy, choking and damp air didn't do anything to lighten the mood.

Two torches could be seen at the end of a seemingly endless room, otherwise covered in darkness, faintly illuminating several golden bars, put in place to keep something trapped and hidden in the darkness.

A glowing red eye appeared behind the sturdy bars, instantly bathing the room on the other side of the cage in an eerie red light. Nine tails swayed aggressively behind it, and it's sharp claws scratched the floor with a loud creek. Sharp canine teeth gritted together and he let out a low and intimidating growl, with enough pure killing intent behind it to make anyone flee.

Whoever had awoken him would him would pay - and preferably in blood.

His second eye opened, and he directed his senses towards something.. Peculiar to say the least. His own chakra, very far away, heading towards Konoha and growing slowly in strength. _**Kushina..**_ The giant thought and grinned, showing his sharp teeth. _**This will be amusing... Yes, I shall look forward to see this play out. **_He cackled ominously, before closing his eyes and fading into the darkness, the room returning to its previous dim orange torchlight.

* * *

The first day had been rather eventless. The only thing notable was that a storm was brewing; and a powerful one too. This would only serve to make their journey even longer as the ship would have to move sideways against the strong wind that was blowing the opposite direction. Kushina was almost overcome with boredom, as it would now be ill-advised to go outside. Instead, she was sitting in the captain's cabin with some of her acquired paper, and practicing calligraphy. It was a menial task, but Kushina knew that no matter how much it seemed like slave work, she would have to get it done immediately.

The second day, the storm had worsened. Kushina had wanted to put seals around the ship, but then that damned storm had whipped up, along with rain, and trying to paint anything would be fruitless with the relentless water pouring down on their craft. The loud booms of thunder were unnerving to say the least, and Kushina found herself thinking, more than once, that she wished the storm would cease.

Third day, they found themselves in the eye of the storm, when they were suddenly interrupted by an inhuman sound. Kushina looked up from her paper with a new storage seal she was developing. _First the two-day journey turns into a possible four-day one, and now this, 'ttebane?!_ she thought annoyedly as her head snapped up from the paper she had been focusing on. Putting it away and crashing out the door of the cabin, she was glad to note that the storm wasn't as bad here, in the eye of the storm. What she wasn't that glad to see..

Staring at the sea, her eyes locked with two circular eyes of a gigantic octopus. Kushina's eyes widened at the sight of the leviathan, its arms flailing around the place and some of them moving to grab hold of their ship. "KRAKEN!" she shouted to the rest of the crew, who stumbled up the trapdoor and onto the deck, facing the eight-legged menace. It gave off another inhuman sound, making some of the crew hold their hands over their ears, and Kushina moved to unsheathe her scythe. As much as she wanted to use her wings, the feathers were currently soaked and would be less-than effective in battle. A few of the weaknesses she had found with her relatively new clan jutsu.

Higure had stormed out as well, and had currently placed himself behind Kushina. "What do you presume we do, captian?" Kushina asked as she glanced back at the cloaked figure. Higure hesitated a bit, before being interrupted by a huge wave crashing into their ship, caused by one of the kraken's arms. It had positioned itself under the ship, and would try to eat them any moment, now. "Kaiyasa-san, do you have the capacity to deal with it?" Kushina nodded and looked back to where the kraken was moments before, except now its head had moved underwater.

"We need to make it resurface! Attack the arms!" Kushina commanded, and some of the braver of the crew drew their weapons and charged towards the arms moving to grab their ship. Kushina herself charged at an arm that was about to get the mast, and swung her scythe at it. The blade penetrated deep into the rubbery skin, and the octopus let out a loud screech. When Kushina removed the scythe again, the wound started bleeding with a strange blue/black liquid, quickly flooding into a large pool on the deck. That would leave a stain...

The arm retracted into the sea, and the other arms with several cuts that were also bleeding retracted as well. Something large approached the ship from underneath the surface of the water, pushing their ship to the side almost making it tip over, revealing the large round eyes of the octopus filled with malice. It screeched again, this time in anger as it raised a couple of its arms and swung them down at the ship, causing some of the floorboards to crack though it wasn't enough to make the sturdy ship break. Kushina would have protected the ship with seals, but frankly she was unprepared and not being an Uzumaki anymore had its disadvantages.

She leaped at the octopus and quickly covered the remaining distance with water-walking. Sheathing her scythe, she gathered chakra in her fist. Normally, this would require chakra control, but Kushina found that as long as she didn't need to restrain herself, she could just unleash a bunch of chakra to strengthen her punch (Even if it wasn't as effective...). Leaping at the octopus, she moved her hand towards the middle of its large head, punching right in the center. The octopus was moved a bit back by the force, and screamed so loud that even Kushina had to cover her ears. It retreated under the water with enough damages that it probably wouldn't resurface for a while. Satisfied, Kushina brushed her hands and ran back towards the ship. The storm even seemed to have lessened slightly during her little match with the kraken.

She was greeted by the hanging jaws of everyone except Higure, who actually _smirked_ at her. That was the first (and probably last) time she had ever seen him have any other expression than sternness. Kushina just giggled lightly at the expressions of the crew and went back to the Fūinjutsu. With the remaining winds of the storm in the back of their sail, they would be at the mainland in a matter of hours.

* * *

Naruto, meanwhile, was walking through his (relatively) new apartment. Sandaime-jiji had given it to him when the orphanage thought he was large enough for them to throw him out; not that he knew why, other than the fact that everyone hated him. He was used to the glares and the way everyone stared at him - or at least he thought so. But no one would ever get entirely used to being treated with so much contempt.

The fading sunlight passed through the window of the mostly empty apartment. He had been able to make a bit of a mess there, but it was nothing compared to what his old room had looked like - at least not yet. He also had a storage of cup-ramen in a cupboard, giving him everything he would ever need...

.. Maybe with the exception of some company.

Sighing, he went to lie down in his bed. He really didn't feel like getting up today, and making his usual display of pranks and cheerfulness. The glares were keeping him away, and even though pulling pranks was tempting.. He just couldn't muster the energy to even move from his position. Instead, he just closed his eyes, his thoughts wandering on something that would hopefully be anything else than a reminder of his pitiful existence. It was difficult. Maybe he would have been able to ignore the glares, if at least one person would accept him without the prejudice everyone seemed to have against him. Being lonely was probably the worst of his pains.

The Hokage watched through his crystal ball at the little blond with a frown. He had hoped that things would change when he got out of the orphanage (at least as much as things could change with the ignorant villagers), but it almost seemed to have gotten worse. Hiruzen shook his head lightly and sighed. He would have to find a solution to this problem. Minato and Kushina had entrusted the village with their legacy, and the last thing he wanted to do was betray the former Hokage and his wife's trust. Maybe, enrolling Naruto into the academy early would help him make friends, and would give him the strength needed as the village's Jinchūriki.

Puffing his pipe, releasing a cloud of smoke that moved into the office air before settling itself on the furniture and scrolls that already were tainted by the odor of smoke, he raised his voice and called his secretary. The woman hurried inside the room and lowered her head in respect at the village leader. "Hokage-sama?" she questioned, looking at the empty cup of coffee and reminding herself to refill it.

"Please fetch the list of children enrolling into the academy this year. I would like to add someone.." he stated, looking at his secretary with a friendly smile. She frowned almost unnoticeably at this, knowing who the Hokage was probably referring to. She disliked him almost as much as any other, but Hiruzen had insisted his staff would stop talking ill about the blond boy. She lowered her head again, and went off to fetch the lists, although a bit reluctantly.

Some company would do good for the boy, that was certain.

* * *

Kushina and her companions had arrived at the docks of a small village on the coast of the largest islands in the Country of Water. It was by no mean as exotic as Kasemi Cape, since one of the five elemental countries would be a bit less likely to be visited by thugs, when compared to smaller countries. Here, the people who broke the law would have to deal with shinobi, and only a few could stand up to them if they weren't shinobi themselves.

Higure and Kushina bid their farewells to the hired crew, and paid them their fee. At first, they had tried to get extra for having to deal with the kraken, but were silenced as Higure reminded them that it was in fact Kushina who had dealt with it, and if she could fend off a kraken... Needless to say, they bowed graciously and scurried off, leaving Kushina and Higure to walk to the Village Hidden in the Mist on foot. That was Higure's final destination, and Kushina thought she might as well escort him there since she had to head in that direction anyways.

"You know, Higure.. You never actually told me who you were going to see?" Kushina reminded the older red-head, hoping to get an answer though she wasn't exactly hopeful. If Higure didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't get to know. Higure simply sighed, looking Kushina in the eyes with an enchanting stare making it so that Kushina couldn't look anywhere _but_ into the depth of those grey eyes of his. "Kaiyasa-chan. Who I am to meet is not important... But if you absolutely want to know, I have an old score to settle with a certain Mizukage." Satisfied with the answer, Kushina smiled at him before she broke eye contact, and after a short hesitation replied; "I guess you want to know where I'm headed, now? I technically never told you, though I guess you've already figured it out.." Glancing at Higure, she saw that his eyes were still fixed on the road ahead, but he nodded slowly.

"I'm going to Konoha. I have an old friend I need to punch in the face, 'ttebane!" Kushina exclaimed excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her verbal tick. At least Higure wasn't someone who would notice it or relate it to Kushina, but if she forgot while in Konoha, it might have unfortunate consequences. Higure huffed in something that might have been amusement - it was difficult to tell, but Kushina had spent enough time with the strange man to take some guesses at what he meant. Kushina elaborated;

"It's this old guy who has a certain reputation for being a strong and acceptable man - what most people don't realize is that he is also a huge pervert. I think of it as my job to punch him in the face for... Peeping." Kushina claimed, if a little reluctantly, though the sentence had started out enthusiastically. Kushina couldn't see because of his hood, but Higure's right corner of the mouth went slightly upwards at that statement.

"When we get to the Hidden Mist village, you should pass around the village's borders. Walking into the village with your.. Condition might be ill advised. Further along, you'll find a small village by the name of Karoku. Mention my name, and someone in there should be able to give you a lift to the land of Noodles." Higure stated calmly. Kushina stared a bit at him. _That's.. That's gotta be the longest I've ever heard him talk, 'ttebane!_ Kushina thought in amazement. After a moment or two, Kushina realized she should probably say something. "Thank you, Higure-san!" she exclaimed. Higure replied with silence, as he always did when he felt there was nothing left to say.

The two noticed a grey falcon flying above them - a messenger bird as the cloth it had around its chest would signify. Clearly they were coming closer to the Hidden Village. Higure turned to her, and looked at her from under his hood. "Looks like it's time for us to be parting ways." he stated, and Kushina couldn't help but feeling a bit sad. They hadn't known each other for long, but it was like Reiden and Naiyami all over again. She had met a bunch of people just to leave them again right when she was getting to know them.

"Yes.." she stated, and looked him in the eyes again, this time as a comrade and traveling partner, and most important, his equal. "If you ever come by Konoha.. Make sure to ask around for me. Who knows, I might even have made a name for myself!" Kushina said with a fox-like grin, causing Higure to _smile_. There was something about this girl - he couldn't quite place his finger on it, but she made people happy. She erased past pains and made people look forwards. Yes, she would most assuredly make a name for herself, Higure told himself with the smile that was currently dominating his features. It had been too long since he had worn a sincere smile.

The two looked at each other for a moment of silence, before Higure reached into his cloak, being interrupted by a somewhat frantic Kushina telling him several times that he really didn't need to pay her, but he just smiled knowingly and pulled a small package of something forth, stopping Kushina in the middle of her one-sided argument. What he held towards her was a cloak not unlike his own. "I know you wouldn't accept payment, so I got you this instead. I know you have other ways of hiding in the shadows, but that won't always be a possibility." he stated in a matter-of-factly way. Kushina accepted the gift with starry eyes, immediately slinging it over her shoulders. At first, it rested on her wings and bulked above her back in an unnatural way, but Kushina proceeded to wrap her wings around her body to make it look more natural - now it would only be visible to an observant peer that there was an extra layer between her and the cloak. Besides, the wings weren't all that uncomfortable and might even keep her warm - even if they were invisible didn't mean that they weren't there.

A powerful gust blew up the dust on the road, momentarily blinding Kushina. When she looked at where Higure had been standing moments ago, she could now only see a bare spot on the ground. Of course, she shouldn't have expected more of a goodbye from the mysterious man, and she was actually slightly grateful he had ended it quickly instead of a painful farewell. "Goodbye, Higure-san" she said mostly to herself as she felt she couldn't leave without a goodbye. Whether or not she would ever see him again, she left to destiny, and headed towards her next destination. _Karoku village.. Here I come!_

* * *

So... That was that! For any foreign and translatable words..

'Teppōdama' is the jutsu Gamabunta uses (just in a lesser version, of course) and translates into 'Gunshot' or 'Liquid Bullets'. Add a 'Suiton' to that, and you got the jutsu.  
'Karoku', the small and unimportant village in the end translates to 'Six deer'. I probably could have used that name for something that would be mentioned more than twice..

Apart from that.. I guess I'll see you in the next update!.. Whenever that is..

Review, people! Getting feedback makes me happy.


	6. Kuromaru

**A/N:** Sixth chapter! This is the last chapter outside Konoha for now. Sorry it took a bit longer than expected, but inspiration didn't come when I wanted it to. I have no idea how long the next chapter will take, but I'm looking forwards to writing it! :)

(Also, I'm not gonna bother with a disclaimer. It's pretty obvious I don't own Naruto.)

* * *

Koroku village. It wasn't really something to write home about. The wooden buildings covered in moss made the village look almost sick, and the thick fog made sure the villagers would only rarely get the privilege of seeing the sunlight. Kushina walked towards the middle of town, hoping to find someone in the village she could ask for directions. So far, the village had seemed empty, but of course they could also be hiding from the shady figure in a dark cloak. If she couldn't find anyone on the streets, she would have to resort to knocking in doors which she would prefer to avoid. As much of a forwards person Kushina was, it could still get quite awkward and she wasn't really sure what she would ask them. That she needed a boat ride to the Land of Noodles? That she was an acquaintance of Higure?

Kushina looked up at the stone water fountain in the middle of a city square; its carvings somewhat morbid, exhibiting faces twisted in screaming masks, begging for help in the mist-covered city. A black cat ran across the square, glancing at Kushina with its radiant yellow eyes before vanishing in the mist. _Good thing I'm not superstitious, 'ttebane! _Kushina thought, as she scouted the area for any more movements or signs of life. Seeing none, she walked up to the nearest house she could find and raised her hand from under the cape to knock on the wooden door, faint light streaming out from underneath it.

"Wait!" A voice called out, Kushina's hand freezing just before it hit the wood. She turned her head towards the voice and saw a young man, probably in his early 20'ies, standing on shaky legs with a torch, its flames dancing as the moist air was threatening to put it out. "Yes?" Kushina asked, as the man would clearly not continue without initiative. Amusingly, it seemed he was too scared. The villagers probably weren't used to having visitors.

"You.. Y-you don't want to go in there." He said, voice trembling, making Kushina wonder just _what_ lived behind that door. Kushina pulled down her hood to look the man in the eyes. "Why not?" She asked with a natural tone - neither frightening nor friendly. The man almost let out a relieved sigh when he saw the face of the person underneath the cloak, probably categorizing her as 'not a threat'. Kushina inwardly snickered - looks could be deceiving, and sometimes her seemingly innocent form was an advantage.

Shaking his head, the man continued. "The old cat lady lives in there. You don't want to get on her bad side. A meeting with the cat lady cannot possibly end well." He explained, the shaking having mostly stopped. "Cat lady?" Kushina asked with a raised eyebrow, and had to hold back a laugh. So this village was tormented by a _cat lady_, of all people? The man nodded his expression deadly serious, making Kushina rethink her prejudices of this cat lady - _She's gotta be something if she can scare these people _that_ much._ Kushina was tempted to go in there and see for herself, and looked thoughtfully at the doorknob for a few seconds.

"Have you got any boats?" Kushina asked, facing the man again. "W-well.. We haven't had the best of luck, and most of them have sunk.." The main trailed off, and Kushina crossed her arms over her chest. "But?" She asked, somewhat sensing where he was going. "There is currently only one boat in the village.. It belongs to the cat lady." The man said regretfully, and even more so when Kushina turned back to the door. "Well, I'll have myself a talk with this cat lady, then!" She exclaimed, and opened the door, stepping into the dim yellow firelight. The man yelped in the background and scurried off, probably to avoid being seen by the cat lady.

The living room she entered looked pretty average, except for the creepily large display of cat-related things. Cat clocks, containers, pictures... It very much looked like an obsession. Faint meows could be heard from another room in the house, and Kushina hesitated for a moment before continuing. What if it really _was_ a bad idea to get friendly with the cat lady? She looked down to see two yellow eyes stare at her. "You!" She exclaimed and raise a finger towards the black cat. It didn't seem very amused, and its tail brushed over the ground lazily. It turned around and went down the hallway and into the room where all the meows originated from. _Probably to alert its master.._ Kushina thought, somewhat frightened of the small cats. She had never been too much of a cat person anyways.

Glancing back, momentarily wondering if she should leave but ending up deciding against it, she continued to go down the dim-lighted hallway and towards the room that would probably house the notorious cat lady. Pushing the door lightly open, she saw a well-lit living room with a large chair with red velvet in the middle, and an old lady sitting on it with the black cat in her lap, stroking it behind the ears with her hand. Several other cats were lying around the room, most of them having fixed their gazes on Kushina. _I feel like a prey in the eyes of these.. Cats! I'm a kunoichi; I shouldn't even be afraid of them, dattebane!_ Kushina thought angrily and discarded the part of her that said to get away from the lady and her cats and anything that had to do with those.

The lady chuckled. "Well, well, look what stumbled into my humble home. To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked with a somewhat dangerous undertone as her gaze fixed on Kushina as well. Kushina had to keep herself from flinching, while facing the cat-obsessed woman. "I'm Kaiyasa. I'm looking for a boat to the Land of Noodles, and yours is currently the only in town." Kushina said, remembering what Reiden had told her about introducing herself first. She would also take the stranger's advice and try not to anger the seemingly dangerous cat lady.

"Is that so, Kaiyasa-chan?" The woman said, Kushina's fists clenching slightly at the suffix. That was one of the things she disliked about being small - people calling her _cute_ or underestimating her. The cat lady seemed to take in Kushina's every reaction. Kushina nodded at the earlier question, not bothering to elaborate on why she wanted to go to the Land of Noodles. The lady nodded and looked down at the black cat in her lap. "Kuromaru-chan here likes you." The cat purred at the statement, as if sounding his agreement. "He vouches for you. This intrigues me, Kaiyasa-chan. Kuromaru-chan is usually a stubborn one..." She trailed off as said black cat nudged the woman's hand with his head, motioning for her to continue petting him. She smiled at him and started running her fingers through his black fur. "I suppose I shall trust his judgement, girl. Now go, before I change my mind." She said and waved a hand at Kushina, shooing her off. Kushina lowered her head in thanks, and glanced at the black cat who was still keeping a weary eye on her. "Thank you for your kindness." She said, before heading towards the door, the black cat later following in the shadows.

* * *

Kushina had found the cat lady's boat easily - it seemed just as rotten as the rest of the buildings, and Kushina hoped it was still in a working condition. For safety's sake, she took some paper and drew a small Uzumaki seal on it with the infamous swirl in the middle. It was designed to make the material underneath it stick better together, and Kushina hoped it would help make the ship sturdier. Satisfied with her work, Kushina cut loose the rope that tied the boat to its pier. It had a very small sail, and seemed like it was made for maneuvering tight spaces, giving Kushina an idea of what to expect of the surrounding waters. _This is probably going to be a difficult crossing.._ Kushina thought with a grin.

Setting the small sail, Kushina steered the boat out of the village docks. She had grown up in Uzushiogakure and had been taught how to steer a ship when she was little, because of the waters around the village and the way people travelled by boat.

Two yellow eyes stared at her from the back of the boat, having taken an interest in the girl. Water splashed over the railing every now and again, because of the troubled waters covering the distance between the Water Country and Land of Noodles. Several sharp rocks protruded from the surface of the water, threatening to tear the boat apart. Kushina evaded most of them, but every now and again she rammed into them. Splinters were sometimes thrown off the sides of the boat, but the Uzumkai fūinjutsu kept it together, and kept the deck mostly free of water.

Kuromaru had taken refuge under a pile of nets and a couple of barrels, with slightly wet fur, as getting wet with water smashing over the sides of the boat was unavoidable. Kushina hadn't noticed her furry companion yet, and Kuromaru didn't really care. He was there for his own purposes, and right now that purpose was watching Kushina.

After steering the boat for another hour, Kushina could finally sit down on the soaked deck and relax. The waters were much clearer away from the coast, and Kushina could continue her journey without fear of getting her ride smashed to bits. A black fur-ball strolled towards her, and she jolted up in surprise. ".. Cat." she stated, and the yellow eyes with an intelligent look blinked at her. "How.. When.. Why did you stow away on the old hag's boat?" she asked the cat, hesitant to approach it as she was slightly afraid it might try to maul her face or something.

The cat's ears twitched and it replied with a 'Meow! Mrrow." Kushina sighed. Of course she shouldn't expect more from a cat. Unless it had been a summoning animal, but it obviously wasn't. Lifting her hand towards the cat as a gesture of asking for permission, the cat walked closer and gently nudged Kushina's hand with his head. Smiling, Kushina started petting the creature. If they were going to stay together for a while, they might as well get comfortable with each other. The black cat purred and closed his eyes. There was still half a day to go.

* * *

When they finally reached the Land of Noodles, Kushina half-expected the cat to try to return to its owner. It didn't. Instead it just kept observing her with its intelligent yellow eyes, never letting her out of his sight. As Kushina couldn't really do anything about it, she just decided to let it do as it wanted. It's practically impossible to order a cat around.

Walking down the path of the Land of Noodles, Kushina couldn't help but look around in amazement. She had never really been there before, and the land was really as plentiful as people made it out to be, especially in the food compartment.

Some farmers were sitting on one of their wagons along the road, chatting merrily. It was really a kind of idyllic sight, and very different from the dark everyday of a shinobi that Kushina was way too used to. The civilians and farmers all fell silent when Kushina passed them, as she had a pretty eerie resemblance to (a short) Death at the moment, with her cloak and scythe. It only lasted a moment though, as Kushina was running along the road, closely followed by the black cat, Kuromaru.

The open fields turned into forests, the villages became progressively larger, and the moon and sun exchanged their places at a steady rate. The villages that had started out as small settlements became more and more like trading centrals, the close she got to the Country of Fire, and thus the protection of hired Konoha shinobi. The villages close to Water were also beginning to grow, but the Mist village's previous reputation had hurt their business and the peaceful Land of Noodles had been more likely to hire Konoha ninja in the past. Kushina travelled along the trees as soon as the forest became dense enough, to avoid unpleasant confrontations by either civilians or shinobi on missions.

She had begun to like Kuromaru, even though she wasn't really a cat-person. She didn't really know what the cat was doing with her, or why its eyes were staring at her so intently, but she felt like it didn't want to harm her. It even helped as a guard during the nights, which proved to be helpful as it had awoken her once, and they had thus avoided detection of shinobi.

Kushina had made very few stops on the way to Fire Country, and they were already nearing the border. Thankfully, the peaceful times made it easier to move around undetected, but Kushina's fūinjutsu had also placed a sort of camouflage on her cloak, making it easier to blend in with the surroundings, rendering her nearly invisible to an unobservant peer. Kuromaru hadn't really needed that sort of thing, as his fur was already enough to go by unnoticed by most. And who would suspect anything was wrong with a cat running somewhere?

The only time Kushina had entered a city, was in the capital of the Land of Noodles, which was situated pretty far away from the border to Fire. Kuromaru had nearly lost Kushina in the mess, but the cat wasn't as useless as he seemed, and never lost her entirely. Kushina's reasoning for moving to a crowded area like that and going against everything she had learnt about staying unnoticed, was that she wanted to taste the continent-famous food in the Land of Noodles, and where else to look for that than in the capital? After having tasted it, Kushina still had to admit that Ichiraku's was better. But the noodles in the Land of Noodles were much better than she had expected. Kuromaru also liked it, and Kushina promised the cat to feed him some ramen when they reached Konoha.

Kushina hadn't been in very much contact with the orange fur-ball, except for a few direct questions and answers. _Maybe that's for the better._ she couldn't help but think, even though her grudge against the fox gradually disappeared as time went on and they progressed on their journey. She couldn't stay mad at it for an eternity, even if it had messed up her family, her life, and the lives of many others. Besides, the fox seemed.. Not like it was regretting it, but like it was accepting and understanding Kushina's feelings. The fox generally didn't seem as much like a bastard as it had been before the attack by the masked man, which puzzled Kushina though she accepted it nonetheless.

Nearing the border to Fire Country, Kushina slowed her pace to a steady walk, Kuromaru coming up on the side of her and walking next to her. She glanced down at the cat, but didn't comment. Besides, even if it could understand her (at least to some degree) it still couldn't answer or talk back. A few shinobi guards were situated at the border, doing border control and keeping watch over the bordering countries. _Now for the difficult part…_ Kushina thought. She hadn't really been in any risk of discovery previously on her journey, but if anyone would be observant enough to find anything suspicious about Kushina, it would be shinobi. Kushina could only hope to rely on the laziness that came with periods of peace. She couldn't fight more than one chūnin, and here there were two. If she had her old body, she would be jōnin level, but currently it was only her knowledge that was that advanced. All of her physical skills were hopelessly downgraded.

Kuromaru purred as they neared the guards. They were both wearing traditional Konoha uniforms and chūnin flak-jackets. Neither of them seemed to be anything extraordinary, neither in looks nor skills - at least they didn't have any notable equipment on them. One of them seemed to be dozing off, while the other actually did what they were supposed to do - be on the lookout for people who wants to cross the border. He hadn't noticed the well-camouflaged Kushina or the black-coated Kuromaru yet, but Kushina was sure that their presence wouldn't be concealed for very much longer.

Kushina stepped on some twigs on the road on purpose, to alert the shinobi of their presence. One of the border guards flinched at the sound, before lowering his hand towards his kunai holster, eyes darting around to find the one who made the noise. The one who had been dozing off eyed his partner nervously, before doing the same. Kushina pulled down her hood, her black hair flowing in the wind and catching their attention.

"Who's there?" the first wanted to know, his guard not lowering even though he could now see that it was just a child. Maybe he could feel the way her presence seemed more threatening than most people's. The other who had been dozing off removed his hand from his kunai holster, and leaned against a tree-trunk, his guard lowered. Clearly that one didn't see Kushina as a threat. _I hate arrogant people, 'ttabane. _Kushina thought as she saw the chūnin _relax_ in front of her. Clearly he did not deserve his rank.

"A nobody. I am seeking a place in Konoha's shinobi ranks." Kushina said, making the first one narrow his eyes, and the second snort in amusement. "Nobody, eh?" the first asked, eyeing Kushina observantly. Kushina had to restrain herself slightly to avoid showing too much emotion under the heavy glare of the first chūnin. Clearly that one _did_ deserve his rank. "If you must absolutely know, I am from a remote village in the Land of Birds." Kushina said to calm the guard somewhat. Nodding, he lowered his hand from his kunai holster, though he was still eyeing the girl warily. "Very well… But if you try anything, stranger, there are plenty of skilled shinobi in Fire Country. We'll be watching you." he said, his eyes still narrowed at the girl, before they darted to the cat. Apparently he had just noticed the presence of the feline.

Kushina nodded, and walked past the two guards, who shunshin'ed into the trees to watch them from the shadows. Kuromaru meowed and looked up at Kushina who smirked back. The two continued to run towards Konoha with the two chūnin escorting them from behind.

* * *

Nearing Konoha, the sight was almost too nostalgic to Kushina. She knew all of her surroundings from the countless times she had travelled through these forests, and the trees greeted her with the familiar smell of spring. Kuromaru was jumping through the trees with Kushina, making her wonder if the cat really _was_ a summon animal. A normal cat wouldn't act like a ninneko. But then again, a ninneko wasn't necessarily a summon animal.

Depending on their pace, the travel to Konoha would take approximately four days. Four days of jumping through trees and avoiding the eventual village. The chūnin said that they had to get back to Konoha anyways, so they might as well follow the strangers and take responsibility for their presence. The two chūnin apparently hadn't found anything off about Kushina yet, and she thanked Kami for their unobservant behavior.

Kushina was annoyed at her lack in stamina, which resulted in that the trip would probably take one more day. It also annoyed her that _Kuromaru_ of all people had more stamina than Kushina. On the third day, they rested in the depths of the forest. The Kyūbi had even offered to give some of his chakra to keep Kushina going (which Kushina actually considered as a real option) but they ended up resting instead. It would probably also be best if Kushina met Hiruzen while rested. And the village might take it badly if the chakra of a second Kyūbi was heading towards them.

**"Hey, brat!" **a growling voice said in Kushina's mind. Since they were resting, Kushina felt that she could probably go there. "Kuromaru, keep watch for me, would ya?" she asked the cat who purred in response and sat down to keep watch. Closing her eyes, Kushina slipped into her subconcious.

"Kyūbi?" Kushina asked, looking up at the small nine tailed fox. This time, Kushina noted that he had grown a bit larger, but decided to ask about that later.

**"The other me is keeping an eye on you."** the Bijū said, lying down on the wooden stake with his head resting on his front paws. Kushina raised an eyebrow. "Keeping an eye on me? What? How?" she asked, alarmed at this new development.

**"He can sense me. And knowing myself, he has probably guessed who you are already." **the fox said, unamused. "So you can see where he is too, 'ttebane?" Kushina asked. _This could actually be useful. I'll always know where Naruto is!_ Kushina thought excidetly.

**"Hn. Don't get too excited, kit. The fact that there is two of me could have some… Unwanted consequences." **the Kyūbi growled at the red-head. Kushina tilted her head. The Kyūbi sighed lowly - apparently he would have to talk more than he actually wanted to today.

**"Chakra absorbs chakra. You might have noticed my increase in size? It's because I draw the residue of my chakra from the atmosphere. If me and him collide… I'd probably lose in a test of strength. And you would lose your life." **he sneered at Kushina.

**"We have to talk to him when we get there. Find your brat when he's asleep and we should be able to enter his seal and meet with the other me. There is just one thing…" **the Kyūbi trailed off, his eyes fixed on Kushina. **"I Have to get down from here first."** Kushina snorted and looked the fox in the eyes. "You still haven't told me your name, dattebane!" she exclaimed, arms crossed. The Kyūbi bared his teeth and growled loudly.

"No name, no freedom." she stated, though she still had some doubts about what she would do if the fox actually told her his name. **"No freedom, possible death." **the Kyūbi replied with a smug grin. **"I could care less if I get absorbed. You couldn't."** he said victoriously. Kushina looked at him with a dangerous gleam in the eye. "I don't believe that." she replied. The fox snorted amusedly, though Kushina could see something in his eyes that made her believe it was an act. The Kyūbi didn't really want to get absorbed by himself. He liked his individuality, as weird as it sounds.

"Tell me your name."

**"No."**

"Alright, but do it soon. I think we both want to avoid death."

The fox bared his teeth and glared at Kushina, who in return glared back. Kushina was just about to start an argument, when the feeling of claws in her leg tore her out of her subconscious. "Kuromaru?" Kushina asked, looking down at the black cat, who looked back at her with his yellow eyes. His head darted towards one of the chūnin who was approaching her.

"Yes?" she asked the chūnin who, she noted gladly, was the one she liked more of the two. "Just wanted to see how you're doing. And I thought you might enjoy some company." he replied. _Okay, I take that back, I like the not-so-creepy one better, 'ttebane! _Kushina thought with wide eyes as the guy talked about wanting company with a 10-year-old girl. "No, no, Kami, no, that's not what I meant!" he defended himself and waved his hands in front of him when he saw Kushina's expression. She relaxed a bit, and looked at him observantly. "I was just wondering about your background. And why you want to go to Konoha?" he asked, and Kushina thought that he probably wanted some information for the Hokage, for when he would report about the strange girl that had arrived from the direction of Water Country.

"I came from the Land of Birds. From a village with no name. A friend taught me how to fight.." she started. She would tell him her story to seem less suspicious. After all, the chūnin probably thought she could be an enemy nin. "I wanted to get away. I heard of Konoha and thought it would be a nice place to fight for something other than a nameless village in the middle of nowhere." she stated, and started petting Kuromaru who purred in response. When it was obvious she wouldn't say any more, the chūnin decided to speak up.

"If you're speaking the truth, I guess I could talk to the Hokage about an audience with him. Just beware that trust is not easily gained in the shinobi world". Kushina nodded. She knew that all too well. "So what about abilities?" he asked, and glanced at the large ebon scythe that gleamed ominously in the darkness. "I use my scythe. And gekkō." Kushina stated, well aware that the chūnin wouldn't know what a gekkō was. "Moonlight?" he asked. Kushina pulled forth her right-hand gekkō and showed it to him. "Gekkō".

He nodded at the weapon. "Looks like a farming tool." he stated, and Kushina had to restrain herself from punching him in the face for the insult. "It was developed from a farming tool. Now hush, this weapon has been in my village for countless generations." she said in a voice that was dripping with venom, as if daring him to insult her village again. The chūnin gulped at the amount of killing intent a 10-year-old could emanate, even though Kushina was being very careful to avoid letting too much out. Reiden had given her those gekkō, and she wouldn't let anyone insult him or Kaiyami.

The chūnin decided it would be a good time to leave, and was about to shunshin off, when Kushina interrupted him. "Name?" she asked. "Ichimaru." he responded, pointing a thumb at himself and smiling at Kushina. She nodded and looked at him a bit before replying. "Kaiyasa". The black cat was looking up at her expectantly. "And Kuromaru." she added, pointing down at the cat. The chūnin nodded and shunshin'ed back to his friend. Hopefully he would put in a good word for Kushina, making it much easier than she had expected to get an audience with the Hokage.

Hopefully. Trust isn't easily gained in the shinobi world. But this Ichimaru seemed to be a good person. It was pretty obvious to Kushina that he hadn't experienced war as a shinobi, and he was still naïve regarding trust. _Those people can be easily manipulated…_ Kushina berated herself for thinking about manipulating the gullible shinobi. It was thoughts like that, that made trust so much more difficult to obtain.

The four set out again at sunrise, this time the chūnin following them a bit closer and a bit less hidden. Yes, Kushina had gained their trust. One of them from thinking she wasn't a threat, and the other from thinking she wasn't lying. Konoha really needed to step up their game - apparently the quality of shinobi had fallen drastically the last six years she had been away. Yet another thing to fix when she would eventually come back…

The next day, she could spot the walls and the Hokage mountain in the distance.

* * *

**A/N 2; **Review, people! It makes writers want to write. Got any suggestions? Feel free to PM me. I haven't planned very far ahead, and mostly think this stuff up on the go. Want to talk about something? I like talking.

Names:  
'Kuromaru' - it translates to 'black circle', though 'Maru' is a common ending on boy's names. At least in manga. Though I'm sure people already know that.  
'Ichimaru' - Yes, I just started watching Bleach. No, it doesn't mean that the random chūnin with no significance is an evil snake person. 'Keh?

Until next time o/


	7. Meetings

**A/N:** Seventh chapter... So far already? Geez. I feel like I've barely started the story. Anyways, the last chapter left me so motivated that I ended up writing this entire chapter right after finishing the other one. So I hope it doesn't have too many spelling mistakes, or wrong use of specific words. By the way, this story is actually going somewhere! It's incredible! But really though, I'm mostly writing this to see if it's actually possible for me to complete a story. I guess we'll see - if I can keep up this writing pace.

* * *

Walking up to the gate with the two chūnin walking right behind her, and Kuromaru beside her, Kushina couldn't help but smile. The main gates were in front of them, and she could see the Hokage mountain that protected the far side of the village. Her gaze lingered on the visage of the Yondaime; _Minato._

Nearing the gates, she saw two chūnin sitting behind a counter, looking unbelievably bored. _Kotetsu and Izumo? Since when did they get tasked with guarding the gates?_ Kushina thought, staring a bit at the familiar faces. She hadn't known them all that well, but she had seen them around. After all, one really gets to know everyone if ones husband is the Hokage. _Poor guys. They must really hate Hiruzen._ Kushina thought, and snickered inwardly. At least she wouldn't be gate guard any time soon.

Kotetsu looked up at the three and a half people nearing the gates. Kushina could only recognize him because of the band of cloth placed over his nose, where Izumo looked a bit more like all of the other chūnin - like the ones following behind Kushina - except for the fact that his hitai-ate was more like a hat. Kotetsu raised an eyebrow at the tree people and a cat, and raised a hand in greeting; and a sign for them to stop so that he could ask about the stranger. Kushina nodded and went towards the little shelter-like contraption that they had put together to keep the gate guards out of the heat.

"And who might you be?" he asked, looking suspiciously at Kushina. Ichimaru stepped forth, answering before Kushina could even open her mouth. "She crossed the border to Noodles, and we decided to escort her here as our shift is over anyways." she said, receiving a nod from Izumo. Kushina coughed lowly, and the two guards turned their attention towards her, making Ichimaru a bit embarrassed. "I'm Kaiyasa. Glad to make your acquaintance. I seek an audience with your Hokage, and a place in your shinobi ranks." she said, pulling her hood down, and lowering her head in respect to the two poor chūnin on guard duty.

"Right…" Izumo said, slightly stunned by the look in her green eyes. Obviously Kushina wasn't the innocent little girl she looked like she was. "She hasn't attempted anything, and I believe she doesn't mean any harm." Ichimaru spoke up, earning a glare from Kotetsu for speaking out of turn. Also, his opinion didn't mean much to them. The two guard chūnin weren't as trusting as the two Kushina had stumbled into. "I guess we can arrange an audience with the Hokage. However, remember that you will be under ANBU surveillance. Don't try anything funny." Izumo said in what was probably his most threatening voice.

Kushina wanted to laugh at the serious atmosphere, but settled for a giggle. Izumo and Kotetsu raised an eyebrow at the girl who giggled, right after being threatened by somewhat powerful people. "What? You think I'd try anything in the middle of one of the largest shinobi cities in the world?! You must think I'm crazy!" she exclaimed, and continued to giggle. Kotetsu sighed, and turned his attention towards Ichimaru and the other guy whose name no one really knew. "I trust you will keep an eye on her until the Hokage has time for visitors?" he asked, earning a nod from the two.

Izumo glanced down at the ground. "Hey, what about the cat?" he asked, inwardly flinching when his gaze locked with the predatory yellow eyes, though his face of course didn't display much emotion. "This is Kuromaru-chan!" Kushina exclaimed. Izumo sighed, and looked up at Kushina. "Don't worry, he's a nice cat." Kushina said when his eyes met hers. Kuromaru meowed happily. "Alright, but keep him with you. Don't let him stray, or we can't guarantee for his safety". Kushina nodded and picked up Kuromaru form the ground who meowed in protest, but otherwise didn't do anything to get away.

"Kotetsu, could you get word to the Hokage's secretary?" Izumo sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Sure." Kotetsu replied, before he shunshin'ed off. "I guess you can just do what you want now. Feel free to look around; we'll send word for your whenever the Hokage has time. It might take hours, maybe even days, so I suggest you make yourself comfortable". Kushina nodded eagerly, almost prepared to sprint off to Ichiraku's. Because that would definitely be her first stop. She hadn't eaten properly since the Land of Noodles capital, and that felt like it was forever ago.

"Come, Kuromaru-chan!" she exclaimed, keeping up her youthful appearance. _Geez, I'm starting to sound like Gai, dattebane! _Kushina thought, inwardly horrified. The cat yelped in surprise as Kushina darted off, her 'guardians' staring at her with a baffled expression, before dashing after her, not wanting to take the consequences of letting Kushina run off on her own. Kushina slowed down on a road she hadn't seen before, remembering it as a place that had been smashed after the Kyūbi attack. She still kind of knew where she was going, but of course it would be a bad idea to let the two chūnin know.

"Hey, Ichimaru-san? Do you know if there's any ramen in Konoha? I've heard about it in the Land of Noodles, and I wanted to taste it, da-… Besides, I'm hungry." Kushina exclaimed, finding it a bit difficult keeping herself from exclaiming 'Dattebane!' At least the chūnin didn't really seem no either notice or care. Ichimaru smiled back at her. "Well, of course! I know a place, just down this road…" he said as they continued walking. Kuromaru was starting to object to being held so tightly by the outwardly ecstatic Kushina.

"Here we are. This is Ichiraku's, known amongst shinobi as the best ramen around." Ichimaru said and gestured towards the place with the sign saying 'Ichiraku Ramen' with his hand. Kushina inwardly corrected him; _It's not just the best ramen around; it's the best ramen in the world! Get your facts straight, 'ttebane!_

The three took a seat inside, and Kushina was glad to see the familiar face of Teuchi. She had been to Ichiraku's a bit too often, according to Minato, and she knew the old man well from her visits. Kushina put down Kuromaru on the counter. "I hope it's alright I brought my cat, Ichiraku-san." Kushina said, well aware that his name wasn't 'Ichiraku'. Teuchi chuckled at that. "Please, it's Teuchi. And no, we are also often visited by ninken and summon animals with their owners." he replied, smiling at the little girl who smiled widely. "Alright, Teuchi-san!" Kushina replied, and looked at the menu hanging on the wall, as if deciding what she wanted, though she had known even before she set foot in Konoha.

"You should try out miso ramen! It's the best, 'ttebayo!" a voice startled her, and she couldn't help but look at the blond sitting in the other end with wide eyes, shock evident on her features. Seeing Kushina's expression, he quickly lowered his eyes, his brief enthusiasm fading completely. Kushina didn't miss the two chūnin's expressions as they glared at him, and she added them to her 'want to punch in the face' list. _Naruto…_ Kushina stared at the blonde boy in orange clothes. Kushina mentally slapped herself (or maybe it had been the Kyūbi?) and she smiled at the boy instead. "Thank you! I think I will." she said, and Naruto lifted his eyes from the ground - this time, it was him being shocked at the fact that someone was _smiling_ at him. But then again, he hadn't seen this person around before.

"Teuchi-san, a miso ramen for me, and one for Kuromaru! Oh, and make one for that boy over there, too!" she exclaimed, inwardly smiling sadly when the blonde's expression cleared and made way for something akin to happiness. She couldn't help but keep reminding herself that Naruto was this way because she hadn't been there for him. _But I'll be there now…_ she promised herself. No matter what Hiruzen said, he couldn't keep her from treating Naruto to ramen. The Hokage might object to a stranger spending too much time with the jinchūriki, and Kushina regrettably had to remind herself that she still wouldn't be allowed to take care of Naruto… But at least she could still treat him to ramen.

"Ayame, three miso ramen!" Teuchi said to the woman standing behind him. _That's AYAME?!_ Kushina restrained herself from yelling out loud. The girl had really grown in the six years Kushina had been away. Last time she had seen the girl, she had been eleven. "Yes, tōsan! Coming right up!" Ayame chirped happily. Apparently she was enjoying the family business, and Kushina couldn't help but feel happy on her behalf.

Kushina deeply wanted to talk to her son, but knew that she had to get confirmation from the Hokage to be allowed to live in the village first. She didn't want Naruto to take the consequences if she was rejected. She didn't think she would be (after all she had an ace that would almost make it impossible for Hiruzen to say no), but she decided to wait as a precaution.

Ayame soon presented the three with their ramen, Kushina and Naruto simultaneously exclaiming 'Itadakimasu!' before digging in, the two almost equally enthusiastic about the meal, though Kushina who hadn't eaten properly for a week slurped in the food a bit faster than Naruto - something that amazed the blonde who had never met anyone quite as enthusiastic as himself about ramen before.

Kuromaru seemed to enjoy the meal as well, and especially liked the fishcakes. Naruto noticed this, and took a fishcake with his chopsticks, presenting it to the cat who took it with a purr, nudging his head against Naruto's hand. Naruto laughed at the cat and started petting it on the head. Kushina smiled at the two. Maybe she could make Kuromaru follow Naruto around instead? The boy definitely needed company.

"Hey, what's your name?" Naruto asked. Kushina inwardly winced as she didn't want to get too friendly before she knew she could back up that friendship. But giving away her name wouldn't hurt, right? "I'm Kaiyasa! What about you?" Kushina asked with a friendly smile. "Naruto!" he exclaimed, making Kushina wonder if anyone had ever asked him about that before. There probably wasn't anyone in the village who didn't know his name - at least not anyone who had been around for the Kyūbi attack. "That's Kuromaru." Kushina said and pointed to the black cat, who meowed in affirmation.

"Nice to meet ya, Kaiyasa-chan, Kuromaru-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, basically beaming, Kushina wondering if his smile could get any wider. It broke her heart even further, knowing the pain Naruto had to endure. "Likewise, Naruto-kun." Kushina forced herself to smile at the blond. She could see that Naruto had to restrain himself from bombarding her with questions, and she tilted her head. "Yes?"

Naruto seemed like he was having a hard time deciding what to ask first, but he finally managed to blurt out a question. "Why are you here? In Konoha. I haven't seen you before…" Naruto stated, Kushina knowing that he was also wondering why she wasn't glaring at him. "I'm going to ask Hokage-sama if I can stay in your village." she answered, and Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of the Hokage. "Hokage-jiji?" he asked, making Kushina giggle. "Yes, 'Hokage-jiji', as you put it. Do you know him?" she asked. She already knew the answer, but wanted to keep the conversation concentrated on Naruto instead of herself.

"Yes! Hokage-jiji takes care of me, dattebayo!" the blonde exclaimed with a wide grin. Kushina could tell that he cared a lot for the old man. "He even gave me my own place!" Naruto continued. This was new information to Kushina; last she had seen him, when she was dead, he had been in the orphanage. "Oh? Really? He sounds like a nice person!" Kushina exclaimed. She knew it was a bit selfish, but maybe she could make him put in a good word for her with Hiruzen? But then again, that would make Hiruzen think that she was after the jinchūriki… Bad idea.

"He is! I could take you to meet him, if ya want?" Naruto asked, looking at her curiously. Kushina shook her head. "No, it's better if I go to him myself." she stated, making Naruto frown subtly and Kushina wince inwardly. She didn't want to make Naruto frown; that was probably the last thing she wanted. "I wanted to, but I have already arranged a meeting with him." Kushina elaborated, Naruto's frown disappearing as he realized it made her uncomfortable. _He's actually really good at reading people…_ Kushina thought with bitter amusement.

"Meow!" Kuromaru exclaimed, his gaze fixed on a bird circling in the sky. Ichimaru snapped out of his own conversation and looked at the bird. "Looks like the Hokage is in a good mood today, if he's already taking visitors." he said, and looked back at Kushina, his eyes intentionally avoiding the boy who was sitting in the other end of the ramen place. "Let's go, Kaiyasa-san. Wouldn't want to keep the Hokage waiting, eh?". Kushina didn't like Ichimaru anymore. Not after having seen his reaction to Naruto being there. She turned her head towards him and nodded stiffly, before turning back to Naruto with a smile. "I guess I'll see you if I'm allowed to stay, Naruto-kun!" she said, and Kuromaru meowed in agreement. Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Same place?" he asked, and Kushina hesitated a bit, before nodding decisively, making a wide grin appear on his face.

Kushina turned away and walked with the two chūnin, suddenly very anxious about this meeting, Kuromaru jumping down from the counter and walking next to her. She still suspected it would end well, but the nagging feeling of fear wouldn't leave her.

"Why did you look at him like that?" Kushina wanted to know as they headed towards Hokage tower. Ichimaru looked around to make sure there weren't anyone important around, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Do you know about the incident six years ago when Konoha was attacked by a demon fox?" Kushina wanted to laugh out loud. If _SHE_ knew about it? Kami, did she know about it - probably better than anyone. But she settled for a nod. "The demon fox was defeated by the Yondaime, but he had to seal it in a child. That boy, Uzumaki Naruto, is the demon fox." Ichimaru said, sending several hateful glances towards the ramen place.

"And what makes you think he's the demon fox? Isn't he just the jailor?" Kushina asked, hiding her anger with curiosity. Ichimaru shook his head. "The fox could be manipulating him. Or it could break out. That boy is a walking bomb and the Hokage does nothing about it." he said bitterly. Kushina failed to restrain herself, and punched Ichimaru on the jaw, making him stumble backwards, rubbing it. "What was that for?!" he exclaimed. Kushina walked over to the chūnin and took him by the vest, pulling down his head to her level.

"You think that _he_ is the monster? You know nothing about the seal or how it works. You just assume. The real monsters are people like you who use the poor boy as a scapegoat." she hissed, a hateful gleam in her eye and killing intent leaking out from her. The rest of the walk happened in silence, Ichimaru walking a bit further away from Kushina than before.

* * *

Kushina was standing outside the office door with Kuromaru, patiently waiting for the Hokage to call in the next visitor. ANBU were eyeing her warily from the shadows, succeeding in making her feel even more anxious. She had even momentarily forgotten about punching that damned Jiraiya in the face.

"Come in." a hoarse voice called from beyond the door, and Kushina gulped before opening it. She had been there so often that the office had seemed like a second home to her, but now she felt like it was different; alien. It was like she was walking into the room for the first time. The gaze she received from Hiruzen was strange to her as well, as if it was an impostor sitting in his place. The look in his eyes was hard and cold - hostile and unfriendly. Kushina had to keep herself from gulping loudly. The Hiruzen she had known had always had a warm and welcoming look in his eyes, but this one only had that on the surface. His smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama." Kushina stated, and bowed deeply. "Indeed. I heard that you seek to join our village?" he asked, getting straight to the point, always eyeing Kushina warily. He had experienced three wars, and getting his trust would be the hardest of all. Well, with the exception of Danzō. But Kushina didn't even _want_ to get that man's trust. "Yes it is, Sandaime-sama. I believe my abilities may be of use to the village, and that the village is something I want to fight for." she stated, hoping to win Hiruzen over on her side before she showed him her kekkei genkai. He eyed her suspiciously. "Fight for the village you say? Might I ask what has lead you to this decision?"

"My own village isn't even large enough to be displayed on maps. I come from the Land of Birds, but I've always wanted to be a part of something larger. I believe this village is something I want to help. These people, this system… It holds a personal interest of mine." she stated, hoping that the last bit didn't sound too selfish. "And how could I know that your allegiances lie with this village?" the Hokage asked, his gaze not having lessened in intensity, as he puffed his pipe causing a small cloud of smoke to arise from it, and Kushina had to keep herself from wincing at the smell of smoke. It had always been a habit of the Sandaime's that she disliked.

"I guess I cannot do more than give you my word, for now. Trust has to be earned over time. But I give you my word that I wouldn't betray this village, which is better than nothing. I never go back on my word." Kushina ended with a satisfied look as Hiruzen's eyes widened a bit at the last sentence. Kushina had said that in her previous life as well, and her son had the same values that made Kushina secretly admire him. Finally, he said what Kushina had waited for. "And how do you believe you can contribute to the village?"

"Sandaime-sama, could you please activate some privacy seals? The ANBU directly under you can know, but I'd rather not have anyone else know." Kushina stated, making the Hokage furrow his brow, though he accepted nonetheless. Putting some chakra into seals on his table, he nodded as the world outside the window seemed to stretch and deform. He gestured for Kushina to continue.

Kushina pulled off her cloak, and lay it on the floor, the mood getting more and more tense as the Hokage was wondering what Kushina was doing, and getting ready to act if it was anything suspicious. As Kushina started on hand-seals, an ANBU was almost about to stop her when she dropped her hands after a mere four hand-signs, the air behind her shimmering and revealing the two large black wings. The Hokage's eyes widened, and Kushina guessed that the ANBU were acting similarly, though she couldn't know with the masks. Kushina was starting to dislike masks.

"This is my kekkei genkai. As I said, my village is basically non-existant, but we all have the same bloodline. My name is Tsubasajin Kaiyasa." Kushina stated, as the Hokage snapped himself out of his thoughts. "This is indeed.. Unexpected. A kekkei genkai, you say?" he asked, unable to keep his eyes from the wings, and Kushina nodded. She knew that he had heard her well enough the first time, and that he just needed a bit of time to digest it. A new bloodline that none of their enemies knew of - it was basically a goldmine for Konoha.

"Hm… I will cast aside my distrust for now. As you said yourself, trust has to be earned. If you prove yourself worthy of being a Konoha shinobi, you may stay as such. For now, I can accept you as a temporary member of our forces. Of course, we'll have to know your strengths to know where you would help the most." Hiruzen said, and Kushina inwardly cheered, though she knew that the Hokage was also testing he to see if she would be any threat to them. It was like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Of course I'll have to keep you under surveillance, but I believe it won't be a problem?" he said, slightly threatening. "Of course not, Sandaime-sama." Kushina replied, not reacting visibly to the threat. Hiruzen absently noted that Kushina always referred to him as 'Sandaime-sama' instead of 'Hokage-sama'.

Kushina flashed through another four hand-signs, her wings shimmering before they disappeared in ripples. The ANBU were prepared this time and were less tense though they still eyed Kushina warily. A sudden meow startled everyone, and even the Hokage was startled by such a break in the tense atmosphere. Kushina pulled on her cloak and looked down at Kuromaru who everyone had forgotten was in the room.

"And what of this… Ninneko?" Hiruzen asked, not entirely sure what to label it as. "He isn't a ninneko; just an ordinary, but very smart cat. He followed me from the other continent." Kushina said, careful with her wording. She wasn't entirely sure that Kuromaru wasn't a ninneko, but she'd rather say that he wasn't. And she'd rather not admit that she got him from a crazy and infamous cat lady. "Followed you? Interresting. I suggest you keep it close; wouldn't want anything to happen to it." the Hokage murmured, puffing his pipe. Kushina nodded - this was the second time someone told her that. But it wasn't like Kuromaru would just wander off on his own. He basically never let Kushina out of his sight.

"Then you may leave. I'll have someone show you a place where you can stay, but prepare yourself for being called again soon. Boar!" he called, and an ANBU with a boar mask and yellow markings jumped out from the shadows and knelt before the Hokage's desk. "Yes, Hokage-sama?" he asked in a neutral tone. Kushina wondered if this boar was the same boar that had served under Minato. "Please show Kaiyasa-san to one of our free apartments. I'll have my secretary find one." Hiruzen said before gesturing to the door, signaling for the two to leave. "Understood, Hokage-sama." Boar said, and stood up, eyeing Kushina before walking out the door, constantly making sure that she was behind him by the sounds that her feet would make on the wooden flooring and the rustling of fabric from her cloak.

The two approached the secretary, and Boar spoke up. "Secretary-san, Hokage-sama has ordered me to present this girl with an unoccupied apartment". The secretary momentarily looked up at the two, before standing up and walking over to a drawer, searching for a while before she pulled out a key. "This is to apartment 31, in the west side of town." she said and gave the key to the ANBU who nodded in appreciation. "Follow me." he said as he turned towards Kushina who nodded at the boar-masked ANBU, before the two walked off towards the western part of town.

Kushina was finally home.

* * *

Kushina and Kuromaru didn't have a lot of time at the apartment before the sun started setting, and Boar reported that they would probably be called in by the Hokage next morning, before he vanished into the shadows to watch Kushina. She started unpacking the few things she had brought with her, and looked at the watch on the wall. She could still buy some shinobi clothes if she hurried, and she still had money from her trip. She really needed some other clothes than the two sets she had been wearing ever since leaving the Land of Birds.

"Boar-san! I'll be heading off to buy some clothes! I hope you don't mind.." Kushina said to seemingly no one, but she knew that the ANBU would get suspicious if she suddenly ran off without word. Pulling on her cloak again, that she had hung up on the clothing rack, she went out the door and locked it with the key she had been entrusted with by Boar after they arrived. Knowing that the cloak hid her features, she didn't mind running along the rooftops. She reached the market streets in almost no time at all, and quickly found the clothing store she had used when she was Kushina.

Opening the door, she was relieved to see that they hadn't closed yet. She looked through the clothes available for her current size, and ended up with a grey battledress with short sleeves and a mesh tunic, grey fingerless gloves that reached the elbow with a black strap being wrapped around them, and the usual black shinobi pants and sandals under the dress that ended at the middle of the thigh. She didn't have a lot of money left after buying clothes, but she had enough to go to the weapons store and get a kunai holster together with some kunai, wire, smoke bombs and sealing paper. She could always make her own explosive tags, and it would be much cheaper.

When she finally came home, she noted with a bit of amusement that she didn't have a single ryo left. Hopefully the Hokage would let her do some missions soon so that she could get some money. She quickly changed, and used one of the kunai for making holes in the back of the dress and the mesh shirt. Hopefully they wouldn't be noticeable, but Kushina could always experiment with extending the henge on her wings to her dress. Looking at herself in the mirror and finding herself acceptable, she braided her black hair to make sure it wouldn't get in the way.

Sighing from the long and exhausting day, she sat down on the bed, Kuromaru soon joining her. She took the sealing paper she had bought and drew a privacy seal that she put next to her bed. It was designed to be a subtle one, that would only make details unclear. She then started painting Uzumaki explosive seals (with a few interesting 'additions'), though Boar would probably think that she was writing notes or something else like that instead.

The silence (except for Kuromaru's constant purring) left Kushina to think. She could go back to her son again… She promised herself to go to Ichiraku's as soon as she had the time to look for the little blonde. She'd make the ANBU think she was just having ramen, though. They couldn't remove her from the jinchūriki if the two were eating ramen.

Kushina wondered what the future would bring. Would she simply end up joining a team and doing missions? Maybe she could become Naruto's jōnin sensei, if she got the Hokage's trust. Or maybe she would fail the academy enough times to end up on Naruto's team? Though that might seem suspicious. She'd just have to wait for the Hokage's decision…

**"****Don't forget Madara. Or the other me."** the Kyūbi growled from the back of her mind. Kushina sighed and dismissed the loud noise, lying down on the bed without bothering to undress. She'd just have to hope that Boar would wake her up at some point. She yawned and slipped into a deep sleep, this time dreamless. Kuromaru rolled up beside her, his purring stopping as he went into a light slumber, still somewhat aware of his surroundings. Tomorrow, Kushina would have to fight to prove herself.

* * *

**A/N 2:** End of chapter! I hope the scene with Hiruzen was satisfactory. I didn't really know how to write the old and tired (and once retired) Hokage, or how he would act around strangers. If you feel like there's anything I could do to improve it, feel free to write! I don't bite :3

Also, I'm not really sure which way this story is headed yet. As I think I've written before, I don't really plan ahead. I just make up as I go. But it would be nice if some of you people who read my stuff (which I'm actually shocked how many people do) would give your opinion on what Kushina's relationship to Naruto should be - and her position in the village. This is probably the most pressing problem of mine, and I kinda need to find out before I can continue writing... When I asked my father which direction the story should head in, he said 'Diagonally up to the left'. Very helpful...

Also, I don't know how many people have watched Maleficent, but I just did, and how she was in the start is kinda like how I imagine Kushina would be with the wings and all.. Except for the fact that Kushina can't fly around. Well, she hasn't tried yet, but she doesn't have hollow bones. That would be insanely impractical to shinobi.

Also, I just remembered that Itachi would be the same age as Kushina (sorta) and that the Uchiha massacre hasn't happened yet... That might turn out interesting. And it means that Tobi has yet to come to the village. *cackles evilly*

So review, people! Or PM me. That would work too. I just need some feedback. You don't need to have an account to review, y'know.


	8. Another Cat

Ahem... I believe it's.. Two weeks since last update? Yeah, sorry about that... I went to London, and that kinda swallowed an entire week. And there was Japan day! So that was exciting... But enough about my personal life. I hope to continue writing at the pace of one chapter every week, but I'm not sure I have that kind of time. That doesn't keep me from trying, though. The problem with writing is that it's difficult to write without inspiration... Oh, and I was stuck on writing Naruto. Apparently, I'm not good at writing him. (No wonder my prompts never turned into anything...)

But I hope the combat scene makes up for some of the worse stuff! As I've probably said, I'm not _that_ good at writing combat, but I try my best and have some experience from roleplaying (Argent Dawn EU, FTW!)

- And that was me pretending that enough people actually read my work to care about a single week's delay.

* * *

Kushina woke up from the scratching of Kuromaru's sharp claws on her bed-sheet. The cat was definitely going to pay for that, if he wanted to ruin it. She groggily sat up and yawned. The faint light streaming into the room from behind the curtains indicated that the sun was probably rising. Kushina looked around, at first confused before she remembered. _Right… I'm in Konoha._

It was weird, finally being home, but also being treated like she was there the first time. A knock on the door startled her, and she scrambled off the bed, a slightly amused Kuromaru watching her. Looking through the door spy, Kushina saw a cat-masked ANBU with black hair, who wasn't much taller than herself. A black eye caught Kushina's. She quickly opened the door; it would be unwise to let an ANBU wait. "Yes, ANBU-san?" Kushina asked, curious about if she would already be tested.

"You are to go to the third training ground, where Hokage-sama will present you with an opponent." the ANBU said, keeping it simple and straight to the point. "Okay, ANBU-san. I'll be right there… Where is the third training ground, actually?" Kushina asked, scratching the back of her neck. Of course she already knew that, and she thought it funny that it was _that_ training ground of all the possible ones, but she had to act like she didn't know. Right now, the most important thing was avoiding being suspicious.

"I'll escort you there. You have two minutes." the cat-masked ANBU said, and Kushina hurried inside again, accidentally leaving the door open. Cat sighed and shook his head. He didn't understand how someone could be so energetic. Neither this stranger, nor his little brother. He, himself, preferred doing things efficiently.

Kushina ran around like a headless chicken, packing the explosive seals she had made into her weapons pouch, which she strapped around her leg. She was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, though her braid that was waist-long didn't look as neat as it had the previous day - not that it mattered, though.

Rushing back to the door, Kushina pulled on her cloak and grabbed her key before she strapped on her shinobi sandals, looking apologetically at Cat who was waiting patiently at the door. When she was finished, she jumped up and went out the door (Cat having to step to the side) and locked the door. "Alright! Let's go, 't..!" Kushina cursed herself for being unable to keep the verbal tick in when she got excited. It would be dangerous if she had too many slip-ups, and this ANBU was definitely more likely to notice than the chūnin she had met so far. He didn't comment on it, and simply nodded before walking off, expecting Kushina to follow.

The two walked towards the training ground at a slightly-faster-than-normal-walking pace. There weren't a lot of people outside this early in the morning, and those that were knew better than to approach a person with a dark cloak and an ANBU - no matter how small the two were. When the two walked by the hot springs, Kushina couldn't help but look in that direction to see if Jiraiya was in town. If he even got up this early in the morning… Kushina sighed; she would have to look for the pervert in her spare time, as she still had to punch him in the face. That was almost as important as finding Naruto again.

**"****Brat, pay attention!"** the Kyūbi growled inside her mind. "_Ah, shut up, fur-ball!"_ Kushina thought back at him, before she turned her attention back towards Cat to see him stare at her. _Oops…_ She wasn't aware that she had phased out. "Sorry!" Kushina said and smiled awkwardly at the Cat ANBU from under her hood. Again, he didn't say anything and just went back to walking, Kushina following right behind him.

They soon arrived at the third training ground, Kushina remembering that this was where she had first awoken after dying… She still remembered the brief monologue between Gai and Kakashi, and the fact that Kakashi had stood at the memorial stone for several hours.

This training ground held a lot of memories for her, as her and Minato would sometimes go there in their spare time. It was also the training ground where Minato had been promoted to genin. Kushina sighed at the memory of the Yellow Flash. She wanted to stand at that memorial stone like Kakashi had and remember her times with Minato. But now wasn't a time for mourning, and she knew that all too well.

Looking at the three large logs placed in the clearing, she saw an Uchiha. Not one that she recognised, but an Uchiha nonetheless. He had the iconic black hair, and he briefly flared his Sharingan at her. "Shisui." Cat greeted the man. Kushina's eyes widened in recognition. "Hi, Shisui-san! Will you be my sparring partner?" Kushina asked with a grin as she pulled down her hood. She had known Shisui pretty well, as he was around Mikoto and her sons a lot. Shisui returned the grin. "I will, actually! Hokage-sama thought I wasn't busy enough." Kushina smirked at him. Rarely had there been an Uchiha that could be as friendly as Shisui, and Kushina wondered why Hiruzen had chosen him for this match.

"He's also awaiting a full report in thirty minutes." Cat added, trying to make them cut the friendly conversing. "So we'll have to keep this short? Alright." Kushina said, as she threw off her cloak, and went through the four hand-signs to release the Henge. Kushina guessed that Shisui had been warned about her kekkei genkai, as he didn't show any surprise at all when the two large wings appeared on her back. "I should warn you, I have quite a reputation!" Shisui said with a smirk. He probably thought he was going to win, which Kushina didn't doubt for a second. He wasn't _Shunshin no Shisui_ for nothing. But Kushina could at least give him a fight worth talking about.

Kushina unsheathed her gekkō, hoping that the unfamiliar weapons would give her an edge towards Shisui's tantō, and placed herself in the initial kata, her eyes focusing on Shisui as she knew he could reappear at any moment and any place. Shisui himself drew his tantō and readied himself for charging. _So he isn't going to use Shunshin yet… _Kushina thought with a grin. She might actually do well in close combat against the short tantō, since it wasn't exactly Shisui's forte to fight without using the Shunshin, and his sword wasn't meant for fighting the gekkō. But Shisui still had superior strength and probably speed as well. _This is going to be difficult…_

Seeing that Kushina wasn't going to attack first, Shisui charged towards the winged girl. Kushina molded chakra before exclaiming "Hanegiri!", beating her wings once making a powerful wave of air fly towards Shisui, who stopped in his tracks, and whipping up dust that got in his eyes. Momentarily taken back by the sudden wind, Shisui was left open as he cursed the dust in his eyes. _Blinding an Uchiha.. He should have taken Obito's advice about glasses!_ Kushina thought and snickered. She then charged, herself, wanting to use the opening she had created.

Shisui snapped out of it, and raised his irritated eyes towards Kushina. She had evened the playing field pretty efficiently. As long as Shisui didn't use Shunshin… Kushina stopped right in front of Shisui who was preparing to block, before she turned around in a motion she had practiced so often before. Using seemingly unpredictable motions, she started swinging her gekkō at the Uchiha; who had activated his Sharingan and blocked most of them with ease. _Still not too unpredictable for the Sharingan, damnit…_ Kushina didn't think that it would be, but she had still hoped it would be at least _somewhat_ difficult reading her movements.

The fight had now reached a point where Shisui had started to find out how Kushina's taijutsu style worked and he was pushing her back. Now Kushina had to go on the defensive, blocking with her two gekkō and trying to create an opening. Since that opening wouldn't come, Kushina leaped backwards with a flap of her wings. Shisui covered his eyes to avoid getting more dust into them.

Kushina didn't waste any time as she started doing hand-signs while the Uchiha was blinded. _Not that he can actually copy my technique, but I'd rather not just give the hand-signs to him._ She thought as she finished the sequence right in time for Shisui to uncover his eyes. None of the wing-related techniques had a lot of hand-signs as most of the work was already done in the jutsu in the form of the feathers. All she had to do was launch them.

Spreading her wings, she exclaimed "Hane Arashi!" as several feathers loosened and flew towards the target, hardening on the way until they were as sharp as knives. Shisui's eyes widened slightly, but he blocked most of the feathers with ease, and dodged the rest. Kushina knew that such a technique wouldn't work against the Uchiha, but this was just as much a display of her abilities as a fight.

Shisui started on his own hand-signs and Kushina quickly realized them as hand-signs for the Gōkakyū. Instead of running or preparing to dodge, Kushina started on her own hand-signs, and just as Shisui exclaimed "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!", Kushina exclaimed "Tetsu Tsubasa Kabe!", enveloping herself in her wings. The fireball felt uncomfortably warm, but not a single feather was singed under the fire. It might have harmed her if Shisui didn't hold back, though…

Opening her weapons pouch, Kushina drew out one of her homemade explosive seals and wrapped it around the handle of a kunai, just as Shisui was charging towards her again. She threw it at the ground underneath Shisui who was just about to dodge when the soil turned sticky underneath him, the seal still waiting to go off. Kushina grinned evilly, and raised a hand in the seal of confrontation. "… Katsu." she whispered, the place where Shisui had stood, vanishing in a ball of fire. Shisui appeared in a flicker outside the fire's reach, the end of his hair slightly singed but otherwise unharmed. This made the poor Shisui outraged, and he started on some new hand-signs, an evil grin on his face.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!". Small fireballs appeared out of his mouth and flew towards Kushina in an unpredictable manner. _Chikusho. That technique is basically impossible to avoid. But if I block it, it creates an opening for him…_ Not really having any seals for the occasion, Kushina decided to do something that was arguably _not very smart._ "Hanegiri!" she yelled, a powerful wind assaulting the minor fireballs. To Kushina's relief, they were weak enough to be overpowered by her wing-enhanced techniques. As the fire vanished, a glimt caught Kushina's eyes. _Kunai!_ she thought and immediately unsheathed her scythe. She didn't have time for any counter techniques, but the larger blade would make it easier to block them.

Almost all of the kunai were repelled, except for one that Kushina hadn't noticed. It embedded itself straight into her left wing, and she let out a groan as she turned and ripped out the kunai. It had hit the top of the wing where all of the muscles are, and a small stream of blood colored the black feathers red. The end of the wing hung limply, as Kushina didn't have the strength to keep it upright. Glaring at Shisui who smiled apologetically, Kushina drew out another of her homemade explosive seals, and she wrapped it around the kunai that had just been stuck in her wing.

She raised her hands in a cross exclaiming "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and a single clone appeared next to her with a kunai of its own. They both grinned evilly. First, the clone threw the kunai, raising her hand in the seal of confrontation and exclaiming "Katsu!" right before the kunai reached the tense Shisui who was preparing for getting away. The kunai exploded inwardly and split up in many small, sharp shards that were all headed towards Shisui. Knowing that he couldn't possibly block all of them, Shisui Shunshin'ed to the side. Just as he did that, four other kunai flew towards him from four directions, and before he could Shunshin to the side, the kunai hit the ground and a small square barrier formed around Shisui, effectively trapping him.

Shisui looked around before his eyes caught Kushina's. Blinking a few times, Kushina saw the landscape around her melt away as spikes flew out of the ground towards her, stabbing through her as she let out a low scream. _"Fur-ball, could you help me? I can't break out of Sharingan genjutsu."_ Kushina thought as she was tormented in the illusion, blood spattering everywhere and Kushina being caught by pain and fear that she had no control over. The Kyūbi grumbled in the back of her mind, but forced a tiny bit of chakra into Kushina's system, effectively overriding the chaotic fluttering of chakra in her head. While Kushina hadn't opened the seal, she had loosened it a bit to make communication easier.

Shaking her head, she saw that Shisui had broken out of the barrier, and stood with his tantō pressed against her throat.

"Good fight." Kushina said, as she moved her right hand to the blade and gently pushed it away from her throat. Shisui smiled at her. "You're better than you look." Kushina snorted at the comment. "Everyone underestimates me, y'know." she said, using 'y'know' instead of 'dattebane'. She had also done that as Kushina, but it wasn't as specific to her. "I can imagine." Shisui said, smirking, as he deactivated his Sharingan.

"Now, then! I'm hungry and you two have a report to make. If you need me for whatever reason, I'll be at Ichiraku's." Kushina said before she Henge'd her bloodied wings and darted off, leaving behind the two Uchiha. She could always make someone look at the kunai wound later, or the fur-ball would fix it for her.

"She's actually pretty good." Shisui noted when Kushina was no longer in sight, and Cat took off his mask. "Hn." Itachi replied. "Still not as good as you".

"No, but I have a reputation that is difficult to exceed." Shisui said and pointed at himself with a proud smile. Itachi nodded and looked in the direction where Kushina had left.

"I wonder what the Hokage will do with her?" he asked and Shisui scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out. Some of her skills are easily chūnin level…" he stated, and Itachi nodded. "But what were those weird seals? I've never seen that kind of explosive tag before."

"I have…" Shisui replied. Itachi looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Shisui didn't elaborate.

"We have a report to make."

"I know."

The two Uchiha left the third training ground in a blur.

* * *

Kushina quickly found her way to Ichiraku's after making sure that she wasn't followed, or that there were anyone around that she knew. She would return to the third training ground later, but right now Cat and Shisui were still standing there. As she approached the ramen place, she could hear voices inside, all of them familiar.

She walked under the sign and sat up on one of the chairs. "Hey, Kaiyasa-chan!" a loud voice exclaimed. "Hi, Naruto-kun." Kushina replied with a smile as she saw the blonde boy. He looked excited by the fact that Kushina was there. "So how did it go? The meeting?" Naruto asked, before he slurped down some ramen. Kushina smirked at the boy. "Better than expected. Right now I'm only a temporary member of the village, but that could change over time." Kushina explained to the blonde. "That's great!" Teuchi broke in, and Kushina gave him a wide smile. He was probably looking forward to the money a second Naruto would give him. Not that Teuchi cared too much about money, but it would definitely keep his shop running.

"So how was your day?" Kushina asked, from the lack of better topics. Naruto looked a bit hesitant to answer, his fingers fiddling nervously. "W-well…" he started, not really knowing how to say it. He didn't want to tell his newfound friend about the way that people treated him, out of fear that she would treat him like that too, or stop wanting to talk to him.

Kushina sighed. She had known that it would probably be difficult making him open up, since he had only had the Hokage to talk to, his entire life. "Don't worry, I won't change my opinion of you no matter what you say." she smiled encouragingly at him. Teuchi looked a bit dismayed - he knew about the jinchūriki's treatment as well as anyone. Naruto looked like he was thinking it through, unsure about whether or not he should tell her.

"Hokage-jiji had entered me into the academy, so I went to buy supplies, but… The people there didn't really like me, so I couldn't buy anything…" he admitted, and Kushina sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's silly! I'll tell you what, what if I go and buy them for you?" Kushina asked, and Naruto got a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Really?!" Kushina nodded. "Of course."

"Uhmm.. Teuchi-san, I'm afraid I don't have any money to pay for ramen.." Kushina said, as she realised she hadn't bought any yet. Her stomach suddenly grumbled, making Teuchi chuckle. "It's alright, I'll give you one on the house for our newest customer as a welcome to Konoha!" Teuchi smiled and nodded at Ayame who started making ramen. "Thank you, Teuchi-san!" Kushina smiled widely.

"Ano, Kaiyasa-chan, where is Kuromaru-chan?" Naruto asked, a bit puzzled, and Kushina realized that the cat hadn't been with her all day. "Uh.. Good question." she answered, and Naruto decided not to further inquire about it.

"So the Hokage enrolled you into the academy?" Kushina asked, curious about this development. Naruto was still two years younger than the common age for entering the academy.

"Yeah, I don't know why, though." Naruto elaborated, looking a bit confused. _It's probably because of the Kyūbi. And because he's lonely…_ Kushina thought regretfully. "Hm. Well, we should go and buy those supplies, shouldn't we?" Kushina asked, just before she started digging into a bowl of miso pork ramen. Naruto nodded, a wide grin on his face. He didn't even have to wait two minutes before the bowl of ramen was completely empty. "Let's go!" Kushina exclaimed, well aware that ANBU were following them. One with a dog mask specifically caught her attention, but only because he was relaxed. _You've grown old, Kakashi. Not even trying to keep hidden?_ If Kakashi took his mission seriously, instead of reading that book that Kushina still couldn't remember where she had seen before, Kushina knew that she would never be able to spot him. She wondered if Naruto knew about his followers.

Walking down the streets towards the shops with shinobi gear, many hateful glances were sent towards the jinchūriki, and curious glances towards the girl in a black cloak with black braided hair and green eyes. Those that glared at Naruto received a glare from Kushina, and she made sure to stay close to the blonde.

When they finally reached the row of shinobi-oriented stores, they stopped in front of a shop-window with weapons displayed in rows with large price tags on them. "So what do you need? Did the Hokage say anything about that?" Kushina asked. She sort of knew what would be required, though she wasn't sure. Were academy students required to have their own kunai and shuriken?

"We just need some books and stuff. I don't remember the titles, though..." Naruto admitted. _Oh. That kind of stuff. Now I remember why I disliked school._ Kushina thought with a shiver at the buried memories. _Hopefully Naruto will have a better treatment... I dislike tomatoes._

"It's alright, I'm sure we can just ask the show owner?" After a short hesitation, Naruto nodded vaguely. He would probably insist on waiting outside. They continued to the shop next door, with dusty windows and rows of books. An old and grey haired shopkeeper was sitting behind the counter, somewhat lost in a book, though not so much that he didn't notice their presence as they entered. His eyes were still fixed on the book as he sniffed the air - an action that Kushina found slightly creepy.

"Aeh, *cough*, what are two youngsters doing in my shop? I hope you're not here for mischievous reasons." he coughed, glancing at them over his book, his gaze lingering a bit longer on Naruto, as he narrowed his eyes. "Especially you, young man." he sneered. "No, no, it's alright!" Kushina exclaimed, trying to sound reassuring. "We're just here for books, nothing more." she elaborated, and the old man raised an eyebrow, apparently still not ready to trust the Kyūbi container (though ironically enough, there were two of them).

"Which one of you, and what do you need?" he questioned, preparing himself for chasing at least one of them away. Naruto was just about to open his mouth as Kushina exclaimed "I am!", sending a quick glance at the blonde, telling him to go along with it. He nodded vaguely. "What's the other one in here for, then? Shoo!" the old man said, standing up in a motion that made his chair fall backwards as he slammed his hands onto the counter. "I-I'll just wait outside!" Naruto exclaimed before scurrying out the door, not giving any of them time to reply.

Kushina sighed and turned back to the shopkeeper, who was sitting down again, looking expectantly at her. "You should stay away from that boy." he warned her and sent a glare towards the door. Kushina shook her head and looked him in the eyes. "You're not the first to tell me that, y'know." she replied. The shopkeeper decided to drop the subject. "So what did you need, again?" he asked as he stood up again, this time more politely and gently.

"I need books for starting in the academy. I don't remember the titles, though..." Kushina said, hoping that he would accept the explanation. He looked a bit doubtful as he observed her carefully. "Aren't you a bit too old to start in the academy?" he asked, but Kushina shook her head. "Hokage's orders since I'm new around here." Kushina said, and to her relief, the man nodded in agreement. The 'Hokage's orders' excuse worked every time.

"Well, then, *cough, let me see what I can find.." the old man coughed, as he walked through the dusty store, glancing briefly at the countless titles before finding some specific ones and taking them out. As he found the fifth one - a green-covered book about survival and poisons - he went back to the counter. Kushina nodded in appreciation, put some coins on the counter, and went outside the store with five books placed under her right arm.

Naruto was nowhere to be seen around the store, but Kushina saw slight movement around a corner between two houses and immediately turned her head, slightly tensed. She immediately relaxed, when she realized it was just Naruto who had hidden in a small alley until Kushina would return. Approaching the blonde, she handed him the books with a smile, which he graciously accepted with wide eyes. He had never been much for books, but the though of being a ninja _did_ intrigue him. He returned the smile. "Thanks, Kaiyasa-chan!" he chirped, and Kushina felt like chuckling. He just looked so happy, that she couldn't help herself.

They went towards the western part of town, where (unbeknownst to Kushina) they both had their apartments. Villagers eyed them suspiciously, some of them wondering where the 'demon brat' got those books. Naruto and Kushina seemed to talk together about everything and nothing at all, Kushina always noting the presence of the ANBU warily and being careful about not saying too much. Naruto sometimes noticed Kushina's reluctance about some topics, and out of fear, quickly changed to another topic whenever that happened.

The two finally reached a crossroads, and Kushina signaled for a halt. "I'm afraid we'll have to part ways here," she started, and at Naruto's sad expression, she quickly continued; "But of course I'll see you again at Ichiraku's!" she exclaimed, causing the blonde's features to brighten, and he nodded decisively, before the two headed off.


End file.
